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AUTHOR: 


OILMAN,  BRADLEY 


TirLE: 


SAINT  THERESA 
OF  AVILA 

PLACE: 

BOSTON 

DA  TE : 

1889 


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•P     ■ 


936.09 
T273 


Oilman,  Mary  Rebecca  (Foster)  ''Mrs.  Bradley  Gilman," 
1859- 

...  Saint  Theresa  of  Avila,  by  Mrs.  Bradley  Oilman. 
Boston,  Roberts  brothers,  1889. 

xii,  203  p.     17i"".     (Half-title:  Famous  women) 

Series  title  also  at  head  of  t.-p. 
**List  of  authorities" :  p.  ixij-xii. 


f  )  #« 


1.  Teresa,  Saint,  1515-in82. 
Library  of  Congress 


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HLMEDBY:    RESEARCH  PLfBLICATIONS.  INC  WOODBRIDGE.  CT 


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Silver  Spring,  Maryland  20910 

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MRNUFRCTURED   TO   fillM   STPNDRRDS 
BY   fiPPLIED   IMRG^.     INC. 


Columbia  jHnitJf  tiSitp 


LIBRARY 


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ifamous  momtn. 


SAINT     THERESA. 


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Already  published: 

George  Eliot.     By  Mathilde  Blind. 
Emily  Bronte.     By  Miss  Robinson. 
George  Sand.     By  Miss  Thomas. 
Mary  Lamb.     By  Mrs.  Gilchrist. 
Margaret  Fuller.     By  Julia  Ward  Howe. 
Maria  Edgeworth.     By  Miss  Zinimern. 
Elizabeth  Fry.     By  Mrs.  E.  R.  Pitman. 
The  Countess  of  Albany.     By  Vernon  Lee. 
Mary  Wollstonecraft.     By  Mrs.  E.  R.  Pennell. 
Harriet  Martineau.  By  Mrs.  F.  Fenwick  Miller. 
Rachel.     By  Mrs.  Nina  H.  Kennard. 
Madame  Roland.     By  Mathilde  Blind. 
Susanna  Wesley.     By  Eliza  Clarke. 
Margaret  of  Angouleme.    By  Miss  Robinson. 
Mrs.  Siddons.     By  Mrs.  Nina  H.  Kennard. 
Madame  de  Stael.     By  Bella  Duffy. 
Hannah  More.     By  Charlotte  M.  Yonge. 
Adelaide  Ristori.     An  Autobiography. 
Eliz.  Barrett  Browning.     By  J.  H.  Ingram. 
Jane  Austen.     By  Mrs.  Charles  Maiden 
Saint  Theresa.     By  Mrs.  Bradley  Gilman. 


SAINT   THERESA 


OF  AVI  LA. 


BY 


MRS.   BRADLEY   CILMAN. 


/ 


. 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS     BROTHERS. 

1889. 


\ 


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~«m 


/I 


PREFACE. 


-f  "Lis 

Cof>yri:,'hl,  ISS'J, 

liV    ROUERTS    bROTllLKS. 


University  Prfss: 
John  Wil.sun  anu  Son,  Cambkiook. 


tJ 

CO 

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Oi 


"Was  Saint  Theresa  a  real  character?  I 
always  associated  her  with  Saint  Margaret  and 
the  Dragon,"  remarked  an  intelligent  friend  of 
the  writer  soon  after  this  little  book  was  be- 
gun. To  the  student  of  Christian  history  or  of 
Spanish  literature,  Saint  Theresa  has  an  hon- 
ored place ;  but  to  the  general  reader  she  is  no 
more  real  than  the  enchanted  princess  of  the 
fairy-tale,  or  the  Lorelei  of  the  Rhine.  To 
make  her  a  living,  breathing  human  being,  with 
feelings  and  foibles  like  our  own,  has  been  the 
most  delicate  part  of  the  writer's  task. 

For  more  than  three  hundred  years  well- 
meaning  biographers  have  endeavored  to  laud 
the  memory  of  Theresa ;  but  their  efforts  have 
resulted  in  relegating  her  to  the  realm  of  ro- 
mance, and  substituting  for  the  crown  of  laurels 
she  so  richly  deserves  that  which  less  becomes 
her,  — the  spectral  halo  of  the  saint.     To  de- 


106566 


VI 


PREFACE. 


PREFACE. 


vu 


scribe  the  woman  Theresa,  with  all  her  strength 
and  tenderness,  her  courage  and  humility,  with- 
out withdrawing  her  wholly  from  the  prismatic 
atmosphere  of  religious  fancy  in  which  she  was 
born  and  bred,  has  been  the  writer's  earnest 
purpose.  If  Theresa,  the  mediaeval  saint,  illu- 
mined and  exalted  by  the  fervor  of  religious 
zealots,  be  unreal  and  fantastic,  Theresa  the 
prosaic  itinerant  prioress  is  a  figure  for  whom 
no  one  can  arouse  the  least  enthusiasm.  To 
give  to  this  famous  woman  the  place  in  his- 
tory which  she  so  richly  deserves,  without  dis- 
engaging from  her  life  the  exquisite  legends 
that  have  twined  around  it  so  tenderly  for  cen- 
turies, has  been  no  easy  matter. 

The  facts  herein  given  about  Theresa's  life 
are  all  historic  ;  the  many  quotations  from  her 
letters  will  indicate  this.  The  multitudinous 
legends  are  only,  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the 
age  in  which  she  lived ;  without  them  her 
character  would  still  retain  all  the  essential 
elements  of   greatness. 

In  the  letters  and  memories  of  Charles  Kings- 
ley  is  to  be  found  the  following  passage.  He 
had   been  writing  a  life  of   Saint   Elizabeth  of 


Hungary  for  a  present  to  his  wife  on  their 
wedding  day,  and  he  says:  "When  it  is  fin- 
ished, I  have  another  work  of  the  same  kind 
to  begin,  —  the  life  of  Saint  Theresa  as  a  speci- 
men of  the  dreamy  Mystic,  in  contrast  with 
the  working  ascetic.  Saint  Elizabeth,  and  to 
contrast  the  celibate  saint  with  the  married 
one."  Now,  among  the  list  of  Kingsley's  pub- 
lished writings  this  work  has  not  found  a  place. 
If  such  a  life  had  been  prepared,  the  writer  of 
this  sketch  would  have  found  her  pleasant  work 
unnecessary ;  for  surely  Charles  Kingsley  would 
have  treated  Saint  Theresa's  life  more  ration- 
ally than  have  any  of  her  score  of  ecclesiastical 
biographers. 

In  order  to  make  Theresa's  life  seem  real,  the 
writer  has  thought  best  to  allow  her  letters  and 
journals  to  speak  for  themselves,  and  has  en- 
deavored to  retain  in  her  translations  the  quaint 
expressions  of  the  time. 

For  French  translations  from  the  Spanish  of 

these  journals  and  letters  the  writer  wishes  to 

■  express  her  obligations  to  Mr.  Martin  Brimmer ; 

and  for  other  valuable  books  of  reference  thanks 

are  due  to  the  kind  courtesy  of  the  librarians 


\ 


Vlll 


PREFACE, 


of  the  Boston  Athenoeum,  the  Harvard  College 
Library,  and  the  Worcester  Public  Library. 

In  preparing  this  biography,  as  Theresa's  own 
autobiography  fills  many  volumes,  and  as  there 
have  been  exhaustive  lives  of  her  written  by 
members  of  very  many  different  monastic  orders, 
there  has  been  surely  no  dearth  of  material. 
But  the  selecting  process  has  been  arduous  ; 
and  it  is  hoped  that  in  the  mass  of  waste  ma- 
terial consigned  to  the  scrap-basket,  nothing  of 
importance  has  been  overlooked.  Inmates  of 
monasteries  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  had  time  to  write  and  time  to  read 
much  which  readers  in  this  busy  age  of  book- 
making  would  disdainfully  reject. 

The  story  of  Theresa's  life,  told  as  nearly  as 
is*possible  in  her  own  words,  — this  is  what  our 
little  volume  purports  to  be.  If  it  increase  the 
number  of  her  admirers  and  make  her  stand 
out  more  clearly  as  an  historic  personage,  the 
writer's  purpose  will  be  accomplished. 


M.  R.  F.  G. 


CONTENTS. 


Concord,  N.  H., 

September  7,  1889. 


i 


Chapter 
I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 
V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 
X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 
XVI. 


Page 

.    .    .  I 

Childhood 

THERESA    WITH    THE   AUGUSTINIAN    NUNS  16 

Theresa  takes  the  Veil 3^ 

PHYSICAL   AND   SPIRITUAL   TRIALS    ...  45 

Theresa's  Perfect  Conversion  ...  60 

Peter  of  Alcantara 'J^ 

Theresa  plans  her  Reform    ....  »$ 

SECRET    REMOVAL  TO   ST.   JOSEPH'S        .      .  97 

Two  New  Convents "^ 

Saint  John  of  the  Cross     ...         -  121 

Durvelo.— Valladolid »34 

The  Princess  Eboli ^4° 

Theresa  Prioress  of  the  Incarnation  154 

160 

Rebellious  Nuns ^ 

The  Beginning  of  the  End     ...184 

...  195 

The  End      


LIST   OF  AUTHORITIES. 


1/ 


Vie  de  Sainte  Tirlse,  par  Le  P.  Francois  de  Ribera^  de  la 
cofnpagnie  de  Jtsus.     Paris,  1884. 

Histoire  de  Sainte  Thirhe^  d^aprls  les  Bollandisies  ses 
divers  historiens  et  ses  a^uvres  completes,  Paris, 
1888. 

Vie  de  Sainte  Tdrhe^  icrite par  elle-meme,  traduite  d^aprh 
les  tnanuscrits  originaux^  avec  commentaire  histo- 
rique  completant  son  ricit^  par  Le  P.  Marcel  Brieux, 
Paris,  1884. 

Vie  de  Sainte  Tirlse^  par  F.  Z,  Collombet.     Paris,  i860. 

Les  Mystiques  Espagnols^  par  Rousselot.     Paris,  1869. 

The  Life  of  Saint  Theresa^  by  the  ajithor  of  ^^Devo- 
tions Before  and  After  Holy  Communion^   London, 

1875. 
The  Life  of  Saint  Teresa  of  the  Order  of  our  Lady  of 
Mount  Carmely  edited  with  a  preface  by  his  Grace 
the    Archbishop    of   Westminster,      London,    1865. 
(Called  Manning's  Life.) 

Osgood^ s  Saint  Theresa  and  the  Devotees  of  Spain.  Vol. 
xlvi.  Christian  Examiner.    March,  1849. 


Xll 


LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES, 


TkknoTy  George.     History  of  Spanish  Literature.    New 
York,  1849. 

Prescotty  William  H.    History  of  the  Reign  of  Philip  II, 
King  of  Spain.     Boston,  1855. 

Les  CEuvres  et  les  Hommes,  par  Jules  Amid^e  Barbey 
dAurevilly.     Vol.  I.     Paris,  i860. 

Portraits   de    Femmes,  par  Madame  Arvitle.     Barine, 
1874. 

Coleridge,  Henry  James.      The  Life  and  Letters  of  Saint 
Teresa.     London,  1881-88.     Vols.  I.,  II.,  III. 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  AVILA. 


CHAPTER   I. 

CHILDHOOD. 

If  a    chronicler   living  in   the   year    15 15    had 
been  asked  to  relate  the  striking  events  of  that 
year  in  Europe,  he  would  doubtless  have  men- 
tioned early  in  the  list  the  great  victory  achieved 
by  Francis  I.  over  the  Swiss  near  Marignano; 
afterwards,    if  conversant  with  the  progress  of 
the  arts,  he  might  have  recorded  the  comple- 
tion of  Michael  Angelo's  great  statue,  Moses; 
then,  if  keenly  sensitive  to  the  theological  ten- 
dencies of  the  times,  he  might  have  seen  such 
significance  in  the  Wittenberg  lectures  as  would 
warrant  him  in  making  note  of  the  lecturer,  — 
the  stout  German  monk,  Luther,  just  returned 
from  Rome,  filled  with  indignation  against  that 
corrupt  city.     AH  these  signs  of  the  times  he 

I 


il 


SAINT   THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


CHILDHOOD. 


might  have  recorded,  and  perhaps  many  more. 
He  certainly,  however,  would  have  overlooked 
one  event,  at  that  time  seemingly  insignificant, 
yet  really  destined  to  be  productive  of  far- 
reaching  results  to  the  inhabitants  of  at  least 
one  European  country.  It  is  this  unheeded 
event  of  the  year  151 5 — the  birth  of  the  tiny 
Spanish  infant,  Teresa  Sanchez  Cepeda  d'Avila 
y  Ahumada,  together  with  the  remarkable 
life  of  which  it  was  the  beginning  —  that  most 
concerns  us. 

No  miracles  or  marvels  are  recorded  as  clus- 
tering around  the  little  saint's  cradle,  doubtless 
because  Theresa  was  the  seventh  child  in  order 
of  birth,  and  as  such  was  greeted  with  no  great 
enthusiasm  by  any  of  her  kinsfolk.  Her  father 
had  been  twice  married,  and  her  own  mother, 
Beatrix  de  Ahumada,  had  spent  most  of  her 
married  life  as  an  invalid  confined  to  her  sofa. 
Contemporary  writers  tell  us  that  this  mother 
was  a  frail,  sensitive,  romantic  woman,  as  much 
given  to  novel-reading  as  are  the  feeble,  fash- 
ionable women  of  our  own  day.  Saint  Theresa, 
born  of  the  delicate,  imaginative  Beatrix,  and 


** 
t 


I 


the  stern,  pious  Alfonso,  saw  the  light,  then, 
in  Avila,  the  city  of  *'  Saints  and  stones,"  on  the 
twenty-eighth  day  of  March,  15  15. 

It  is  not  difficult  for  us  to  picture  the  saint's 
native  town,  for  it  stands  to-day  with  its  round 
granite  towers,  its  nine  gates,  and  its  mediaeval 
fortifications,  one  of  the  few  impressive  monu- 
ments which  recall  vividly  the  half-civilized, 
highly-colored  life  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  streets  of  Avila  are  still  full  of  curious  old 
houses  much  like  the  one  in  which  little  Theresa 
was  born.  Her  father's  coat-of-arms  —  a  castle 
on  fire,  surmounted  by  a  cross  —  was  sculptured 
over  the  door  of  the  house.  Above  it^ projected 
a  balcony,  then,  as  now,  the  favorite  resort  of 
pet  quails.  The  principal  entrance  led  into  a 
vast  hall,  on  either  side  of  which  were  chambers 
never  used  except  for  a  birth,  a  marriage,  or  a 
burial.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  hall  was  a 
door  communicating  with  the  body  of  the  house, 
and  facing  it  a  door  leading  to  a  gallery  that 
opened  upon  a  spacious  yard  in  which  were  the 
bakehouses  and  ovens.  Beyond  this  were  two 
great  rooms,  one  being  used  as  the  kitchen  of 


i 


4  SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 

the  masters,  the   other  of  the  servants.      The 
first  of  these,   in  which  no  cooking  was  done, 
was  used  Hke  a  dining-hall.     In  it  was  an  enor- 
mous  fireplace,   occupying  the   whole   face  of 
one  wall.      In  winter,  a  fire  was  kept  perpetu- 
ally burning  there,  in  which  sometimes  whole 
trees  were  consumed.      On   either  side  of  the 
fireplace     low     benches     covered     with     wool 
cushions  were  placed,  and  doors  led  from  this 
hall  into  the  dwelling-rooms,  which  looked  out 
upon  a  pretty  garden.      In  such  a  great  man- 
sion, situated  upon  a  fashionable  street,  Theresa 
(  spent  her  girlhood.      As  the  record  reads,  she 
was   very   much    like  all    girls  in  all  countries. 
She  grew  up  to   be  pretty  and  fascinating,  fond 
of  the  society  of  young  people,  and  especially 
susceptible  to  admiration  and  flattery.       Many 
descriptions    of  her    personal  appearance  exist, 
written  by  her  contemporaries.     One  of  these, 
probably  describing  her  as  she  appeared  at  the 
aee  of  fifteen,  tells  us  that  ''  She  was  of  middle 
stature,  elegant,  and  of  fair  proportions,  plump 
and  perfectly  well-formed,  possessing  a  kind  of 
beauty  which  advancing  age   did  not,  as  it  is 


CHILDHOOD. 


5 


wont,  impair;   her  complexion  was  bright,   the 
white  and  red  distinct  and  clear ;    her  hair  was 
black  and  curly,  the  forehead  broad  and  smooth ; 
the  nose  was  small,  the  mouth   slightly   open, 
with   white    and    even   teeth,    short   upper   lip, 
the  under  lip  rather  full.     Her  eyes  were  dark 
and  bright,  sparkling  and  shining.     Her  hands 
were  small,  the  fmgers  slight  and  tapering;  her 
whole  appearance  forming  a  striking  combina- 
tion of  dignity  and  beauty."      There  is  an  en- 
graving of  her,  taken   from  a  portrait   painted 
by  Fra  Juan  dc  la  Miseria,  later  in  life,  and  now 
preserved  in  Avila.     Fra  Juan  was  not  much  of 
an  artist,  and  on  seeing  her  picture,  Theresa  is 
said  to  have  exclaimed,   '*  So,  after  all,  father, 
you    have    made    me    blear-eyed    and    ugly."   | 
Vanity   was  always  one  of  Theresa's  besetting 

sins. 

The  children  of  the  sixteenth  century  found 
their  amusement  in  listening  to  the  legends  of  ■ 
the    saints    and    martyrs,   just   as   the    children 
of  the  nineteenth   century  find  theirs  in  listen- 
ing  to  the  mischievous  pranks  of  Andersen's  or  ^ 
Grimm's  heroes  and  heroines;   and  as  modern 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VI LA. 


children  are  sometimes  detected  trying  to  imi- 
tate the  doings  of  their  favorite  story-book 
characters,  so  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  the 
little  Spanish  girl  inciting  her  younger  brother 
to  run  away  with  her  to  undergo  martyrdom  in 
the  country  of  the  Moors. 

**  I  had  a  brother,"  wrote  Theresa,  in  describ- 
ing this  childish  experience,  "about  my  own 
age,  to  whom,  though  I  loved  all  the  others 
much,  I  bore  especial  affection.  We  delighted 
in  hearing  the  lives  of  the  saints;  and  when  we 
saw  what  tortures  they  endured  for  the  love  of 
God,  it  seemed  to  me  that  all  this  was  as  noth- 
ing to  give  for  the  enjoyment  of  Him.  .  .  .  My 
brother  and  I  often  discoursed  together  upon 
the  matter,  and  at  last  we  agreed  that  we  would 
go  into  the  country  of  the  Moors,  asking  alms, 
that  so  we  might  come  to  be  beheaded." 

Thus  when  onl}^  seven  years  of  age,  these 
two  little  mites  toddled  off  to  a  distant  country 
to  die  for  their  religion ;  but  like  many  other 
imaginative  children,  they  were  brought  home 
in  disgrace  before  they  had  passed  beyond  the 
city  walls.     They  were  grievously  disappointed 


CHILDHOOD. 


at  the  failure  of  their  plan,  and  Theresa,  when 
asked  to  explain  herself,  said :  *'  I  ran  away 
because  I  want  to  see  God,  and  because  I  must 
die  before  I  see  Him."  Another  childish  en- 
terprise was  the  construction,  in  the  garden,  of 
a  little  hermitage,  in  which  Theresa  and  her 
brother  Roderick  expected  to  live  like  hermits 
in  the  desert,  spending  their  time  in  fasting  and 
prayer.  But  this  plan,  like  the  other,  proved 
a  failure;  for  the  baby  herm.itage  was  not 
"  founded  upon  a  rock,"  and  when  the  rain  de- 
scended and  the  wind  blew,  it  fell,  and  one 
morning  the  children  arose  to  find  it  only  a 
heap  of  stones. 

In  the  pastimes  and  plays  of  children  the 
atmosphere  of  the  times  is  often  clearly  mani-  i 
fcsted.  Of  all  the  countries  in  Europe,  Spain 
had  retained  the  most  religious  zeal  and  en- 
thusiasm. The  constant  presence  of  the  Moors 
for  so  many  centuries,  and  the  difficulty  of  sub- 
duing the  followers  of  Mahomet,  had  united 
the  whole  Spanish  nation  in  a  loyal,  almost 
fanatical  devotion  to  their  Church.  While  in 
Germany,    France,  and    England   the   Catholic 


8 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA, 


Church  was  being  rent  by  hostile  factions,  and 
serious    theological     difficulties    had     revealed 
themselves  even  before  Luther's  time,  in  Spain 
the  necessity  of  protecting  the  Church  from  the 
invasion   of  the  Moslems  had    tended   to   har- 
monize all  differences.     A  faith  which  had  cost 
so    much   blood   was   surely   worth    preserving 
intact;    and    men,    women,    and    children   were 
eager  to  sacrifice  their  lives  and  their  property 
to  keep  their    cherished    faith    from  a  taint   of 
heresy.     Martyrdom   in  that  age  was  sought  by 
many  devotees ;   and  a  bishop  excited  the  wrath 
of  the  people,  and  was  even  accused  of  apos- 
tasy, because  he  blamed  those  Christians  who 
unnecessarily  insulted  the  prophet  Mahomet. 

The  Church  and  the  Cross,  the  joys  of  heaven 
and  the  torments  of  hell,  were  the  most  power- 
ful forces  in  the  life  of  Spain  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  To  many,  they  were  far  more  real 
than  the  exciting  bull-fights  or  the  brilliant 
assemblies.  The  warring  of  good  and  evil 
spirits,  the  thought  of  eternity,  the  "  forever 
and  forever  "  of  the  exceeding  glory  or  the  in- 
— tense  anguish  of  the   world  beyond  the  grave, 


mi 

! 


9 


CHILDHOOD.  9 

were  realities    impressed  on  the   minds  of  that 
sensuous,   pleasure-loving  Spanish  people  in  a 
way  we  can  hardly  conceive  to-day.     The  feel- 
ing which  drove  so  many  men  and  women  to 
seek  a  cloistered  life  or  a  martyr's  death  in  that 
century  was  not  very  exalted,  but  it  was  very 
intense.     To  them,  earthly  joys  seemed  paltry 
and    short-lived   beside   the   never-ending  joys 
they  were  told   awaited  them   in  eternity.      In 
its  ultimate  analysis,  the  feeling  was  selfish  and 
calculating;  but  the  strange  thing  to  understand 
in   our   materialistic   and    sceptical   age   is   the 
power  those  unseen,  unproven  pains  and  pleas- 
ures  had    over   that   unspiritual  people.      The 
God   of  the    Spanish   Catholic,   however  cruel 
and   anthropomorphic  he  may  have  been,  was 
a  present  God,  a  real  Being  to  even  the  chil- 
dren of  that  day ;    we  find  the  young  Theresa 
stealing  away  to  tell  her  beads  and  recite  her 
various  prayers,   and   at  a  very   early   age   ex- 
pressing a  wish  to  be  either  a  saint  or  a  niin. 
However,   just  as  a  boy  playing  with  his  toy- 
boats  longs  to  be  a  sailor,  but  forgets  his  wish 
as  soon  as  he  tires  of  his  game,  so  Theresa,  as 


n 

^1 


lO 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VI LA. 


CHILDHOOD. 


II 


soon  as  she  learned  to  read,  and  was  introduced 
into  the  world  of  romance  and  poetry,  gave  up 
her  early  aspirations  for  the  conventual  life. 

Don  Alfonso  de  Cepeda  was  a  highly  edu- 
cated man,  for  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  and 
possessed  a  library  of  considerable  size.  When 
Theresa  was  but  nine  years  old  her  father  taught 
her  to  read.  At  that  period  it  was  not  un- 
common for  a  woman  to  grow  up  in  a  rich  and 
noble  Spanish  family  without  even  this  amount 
of  education.  In  later  years,  we  find  Theresa 
complaining  of  four  novices  from  noble  families, 
none  of  whom  could  read  even  their  prayer- 
books.  But  Don  Alfonso  was  a  student,  and 
himself  taught  his  children.  His  library  con- 
tained the  works  of  the  great  Latin  authors,  of 
the  Church  Fathers,  much  religious  poetry,  and 
above  all  a  great  many  romances.  These  latter 
books  were  forbidden  fruit  to  the  children ;  yet 
secretly,  and  without  her  father's  knowledge, 
the  young  Spanish  maiden  managed  to  read 
them.  Like  many  a  naughty  modern  girl  of 
thirteen,  she  stole  down  to  the  library  at  night 
and  returned  bearing  her  treasured  story-book, 


forgetful  of  everything,  including  her  obedience 
to  her  parents  and  her  religion,  in  her  inter- 
est in  the  prowess  and  amours  of  the  Spanish 
cavaliers. 

♦*  My  mother,"  she  tells  us  in  her  narrative  of 
these  years,  "  was  particularly  fond  of  reading 
books  of  romance,  though  she  did  not  imbibe 
so  much  evil  by  this  entertainment  as  I  did, 
because  it  did  not  hinder  her  usual  work;  but 
it  made  her  omit  many  duties,  that  so  she  might 
read  these  books.  And  perhaps  my  mother 
read  them  that  thus  her  thoughts  might  not 
dwell  on  the  great  troubles  she  endured,  and 
her  children  might  so  occupy  themselves  as  not 
to  fall  into  other  more  dangerous  things.  My 
father,  however,  was  so  particular  on  this  point, 
that  great  care  was  taken  lest  he  should  know 
anything  on  this  subject.  But  I  continued  in 
the  habit  of  reading  these  books;  and  this  slight 
fault  of  mine,  which  I  perceived  in  myself,  began 
to  cool  my  good  desires,  and  was  the  cause  of 
my  failing  in  other  things.  I  fancied,  however, 
there  was  no  harm,  though  I  spent  many  hours 
both  of  the  night  and  day  in  so  vain  an  exer- 


12 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


cise,  unknown  to  my  father.  But  I  was  so  much 
addicted  to  this  habit,  that  if  I  could  not  obtain 
some  new  book  it  seemed  to  me  I  could  not 
be  happy.  I  began  also  to  wear  fine  clothes, 
and  to  desire  to  appear  handsome.  I  took 
great  care  of  my  hands  and  of  my  hair,  and 
was  fond  of  perfumes,  together  with  all  those 
vanities  I  was  able  to  attain,  which  were  many ; 
for  I  was  very  curious  in  this  respect." 

The  result  of  this  novel-reading  is  easily  antici- 
pated. All  thoughts  of  a  cloister  life  vanished, 
and  Theresa's  head  became  completely  filled 
with  what  wc,  in  our  plain-speaking  age,  should 
ordinarily  term  *'  nonsense."  The  early  death 
of  Dona  Beatrix  left  the  care  of  the  whole  large 
family  upon  Don  Alfonso's  hands;  and  for  a 
time  Theresa,  pretty  and  fascinating,  was  left 
free  to  amuse  herself  about  as  she  pleased. 
Her  amusements  she  found  with  a  host  of 
young  cousins  who  ran  in  and  out  of  the  house, 
whose  flattery  and  attention  did  much  to  spoil 
the  young  girl  completely.  A  girl  of  thirteen 
is  naturally  gay  and  lively,  and  Theresa  was  a 
typical   young   girl.     She   was  fond    of  bright 


CHILDHOOD. 


13 


ribbons  and  pretty  gowns,  and  not  a  Httle  vain 
of  her  pink  and  white  cheeks  and  soft  brown 
eyes.  Spanish  etiquette  was  very  strict,  and 
permitted  familiar  intercourse  only  between  near 
relatives.  But  in  Theresa's  case  even  cousins 
did  not  prove  safe  companions ;  for  at  fourteen 
we  find  her  a  pronounced  flirt  and  coquette, 
secretly  engaged  to  marry  one  of  these  rela- 
tives, who  was  allowed  the  unrestricted  entree 
of  her  father's  house. 

-  I  had  cousins,"   she  writes,  '*  and  to  them 
alone  was  given  permission  to  enter  our  home. 
My    father    was   too    prudent   to    admit   other 
visitors,  and  it  would  have  been  better  if  he  had 
admitted  none.     I  see  now  how  dangerous  it  is 
for  young  people  to  be  allowed  so  much  free- 
dom.    My  cousins  were  near  my  own  age.     We 
passed  much  time  together,  and  they  loved  me 
immensely.     I  let  them  talk  of  anything  they 
chose.     I  was  lively,  and   interested  myself  in 
their  future  plans,  in  their  childish  follies,  and 
in  everything   which    concerned   them.      They 
told  me  many  things  about  the  life  outside  my 
home  which  it  would  have  been  better  for  me 


14 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


not  to  have  heard.  My  eldest  sister  was  much 
quieter  than  I  was,  but  I  would  not  follow  her 
example,  but  preferred  to  imitate  the  example 
of  an  older  cousin  who  came  often  to  the  house, 
and  whose  conduct  my  mother  had  many  times 
severely  blamed.  She  and  I  soon  became  very 
intimate.  We  were  always  together.  She  con- 
fided her  secret  love-affairs  to  me,  and  encour- 
aged me  in  all  my  vanities.  My  father  and 
sister  often  reproved  me  for  this  intimacy,  but 
I  would  not  listen  to  their  advice;  and  finally, 
when  they  found  out  how  far  wrong  she  had 
led  me,  my  father  determined  to  send  me  away 
from  home." 

By  her  own  statements,  Theresa  was  certainly 
engaged;  but  whether  her  self-chosen yf^;/a^ was 
not  a  suitable  one  in  regard  to  age,  fortune,  or 
character,  is  not  recorded ;  evidently  Don  Al- 
fonso was  alarmed  at  his  daughter's  indepen- 
dence, and  thought  it  wise  to  rehiove  her  at 
once  from  these  temptations.  After  some  con- 
sultation with  his  eldest  daughter,  Marie,  —  about 
to  be  married  to  an  excellent  nobleman,  Don 
Martin  de  Guzman,  —  it  was  decided   to  send 


!r 


CHILDHOOD. 


15 


Theresa  within  the  enclosure  of  the  Augustine 
Convent.  She  was  permitted  to  stay  at  home 
through  the  festivities  of  her  sister's  wedding, 
and  on  the  day  following  this  great  event  her 
clothes  were  packed,  and,  much  against  her  own 
will,  the  young  girl  was  taken  away  from  her 
pleasant,  cheerful  home,  and  given  into  the 
charge  of  the  Augustinian  nuns. 


i6 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


WITH  THE  A  UGUSTINIAN  NUNS,       1 7 


CHAPTER    II. 

THERESA   WITH   THE   AUGUSTINIAN   NUNS. 

The  Augustine  Convent,  where  Don  Alfonso 
sent  his  daughter,  was  built  in  1508,  on  the  site 
of  an  ancient  Moslem  mosque.  It  was  situated 
in  the  centre  of  Avila,  and  was  a  favorite  edu- 
cational establishment  for  those  daughters  of 
noble  families  who  for  any  reason  could  not 
be  trained  in  their  own  homes.  In  this  place 
forty  nuns  divided  among  themselves  the  care 
of  the  young  girls  committed  to  their  charge. 
These  good  women  were  known  to  be  strict 
in  their  discipline,  regular  in  their  instruction, 
and  faithful  to  all  the  necessary  religious  observ- 
ances. Surely,  the  gay  young  Theresa  would 
here  be  kept  from  temptation,  and  would  turn 
her  attention  towards  more  serious  things. 

The  faithful  tell  us  that  some  days  before 
Theresa  entered  the  Augustinian  Convent,  a 
starlike    light   appeared    in    the    midst    of    the 


choir,  and,  having  circled  about  the  religious, 
v/as  seen  to  disappear  in  the  bosom  of  Dona 
Maria  Briceno,  the  mistress  of  the  pensioners. 
This  is  interpreted   by  the  Jesuit  historians  to 
mean  that  a  brilliant  light  was  for  a  time  to  be 
intrusted  to  Dona  Maria  Briceiio's  care.     This 
li^ht,  however,  showed  no  signs  of  its  brilliancy 
at  first ;   for  there  never  was  a  girl  who  rebelled 
more  openly  at  the  necessary  restraints  of  con- 
vent life.     Theresa  regarded  the  walls  as  prison 
bars.     The  perpetual  silence,  the  yoke  of  obedi- 
ence, the  monotony  of  the  days,  and  even  the 
placid,  peaceful  faces  of  the  kind  sisters  seemed 
to    her    unendurable.     At   first  she  wept   from 
morning  to   night,   and   besought  her  teachers 
to  let  her  return  to  her  own  home.   But  nothing 
she  could  do  or  say  moved  them.     Her  friends 
from   outside  —  doubtless  the  particular  cousin 
on  whose  account  she   had  been  sent  away  — 
came  often  to  visit  her  during  the  first  week, 
and  brought  her  presents.     But  this  could  not 
be   allowed  by  the  sisters,  and  soon  ceased  at 
their  request.     Years  later,  the  saint  wrote  with 
pious   contempt  of  those  people  who  "sought 


of 


'k 


i8 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VI LA. 


means  to  trouble   my  rest  with   messages   and 
presents ;  "  but  we  may  be  sure  that  at  this  time 
in  her  life    she  would    gladly   have    had  these 
<^limpses  of  the  outer  world  permitted  to  con- 
tinue.    The  days  dragged  heavily,  and  the  poor 
bird  beat  her  wings  vainly  against  the  iron  bars 
of  her  cage,  but  could  not  obtain  her  freedom; 
then,  with  the  adaptability  of  youth,  she  wisely 
resolved  to  make  the  best  of  her  new  situation. 
Soon  in  the  convent,  as  in  the  world,  she  be- 
came the  centre  of  an  admiring  circle.    To  meet 
the  approval  of  those  around  her  was  an  instinct 
with  Theresa,  and  she  ingenuously  wrote,  ''  All 
the  nuns   were  pleased  with  me,  for  our  Lord 
gave  me  the  grace  to  please  every  one  wherever 

I   might  be."     4jL$: 

The  sister  who  had  charge  of  the  young 
pupils  was  a  woman  wise  in  knowledge  of  the 
human  heart.  She  studied  Theresa  sufficiently 
to  discover  that  she  was  not  a  commonplace 
girl,  and  determined  to  win  her  confidence  and 
affection.  She  saw  that  she  was  ready  to  give 
herself  body  and  soul  into  the  hands  of  any  one 
whom  she   loved;    and  to  win   this    lovc  Dofla 


WITH   THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS.        1 9 


Briceiio  made  for  the  time  being  her  great  ob- 
ject. Impulsive  and  passionate,  deprived  of  her 
family  and  friends,  Theresa  must  needs  find  some 
outlet  for  her  warm  human  feelings.  Dona 
Briceno  was  agreeable  in  conversation,  winning 
in  manner,  and  gave  Theresa  all  that  love  and 
sympathy  which  her  young  heart  craved.  It 
was  therefore  not  strange  that  her  plan  suc- 
ceeded. ''One  of  the  sisters,"  Theresa  wrote, 
**  had  especial  charge  of  the  pupils.  She  slept 
in  our  dormitory,  and  was  with  us  constantly. 
Her  conversation  was  charming.  I  loved  to 
listen  to  her."  So,  little  by  little,  the  young 
girl's  heart  was  won,  and  as  soon  as  she  found 
some  one  upon  whom  to  lavish  her  love  she 
began  to  be  happy.  It  was  in  loving  that  she 
was  always  to  find  peace.  The  quiet  convent 
days  passed  quickly,  and  she  no  longer  wept 
for  her  friends  outside  the  walls.  She  became 
accustomed  to  the  regular  life,  grew  attached 
to  the  inmates,  and,  above  all,  was  devoted 
to  the  gentle  preceptress.  Doila  Briceno,  so 
soon  as  she  had  gained  the  confidence  of  the 
young  girl,  began  to  try  to  arouse  her  religious 


20  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

nature.  She  worked  upon  her  morbidly  sensi- 
tive imagination  by  telling  her  of  the  "  reward 
our  Lord  gives  to  those  who  forsake  all  things 
for  his  sake."  Then  she  gave  her  an  account 
of  her  own  conversion,  and  related  how  she  had 
resolved  to  quit  the  world  and  devote  herself  to 

Christ. 

^*  But  still,"  Theresa  writes,  '*  I  did  not  wish 
to  be  a  nun,  and  hoped  that  God  would  not  be 
pleased  I  should  be  one,  though  at  the  same 
time  I  was  afraid  of  marriage." 

Here  we  see  the  only  alternatives   open  to 
a  woman  in  the  sixteenth  century ;  namely,  the 
cloister  or  the  hearth ;   moreover,  a  nun  in  those 
days   had  more  independence   than  a   married 
woman,  who  was  expected  to  be  wholly  under 
the  subjection  of  her  husband.     There  were  ab- 
solutely no  channels  open,  into  which  a  woman 
of  genius  could  direct  her  energy  and  ambition. 
The  Roman   Church  taught  that  wedded  life, 
however  pure  and   noble,  was  distinctly  lower 
than  virginity;  and  some  natures  found  it  easier 
to  vow  obedience  to  God  than  to  an  unknown 
and  often  unworthy  husband. 


WITH   THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS. 


21 


During  the  year  and  a  half  that  Theresa  spent 
with  the  Augustinian  nuns  she  had  time  to  be- 
come thoroughly  impregnated  with  all  the  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  the  Roman  Church.     Her 
religious  nature  had  always  been  sensitive,  and 
soon  succumbed  to  the  gentle  influences  of  the 
cloister  life.     Her  friendship  with  Dona  Maria 
banished  in  some  degree  her  dislike  for  the  con- 
vent, but  she  still  resisted  the  vocation  the  good 
sisters  tried  to  urge  upon  her.     The  ''  flesh-pots 
of  Egypt,"  in  the  shape  of  romances,  bull-fights, 
and  court   assemblies,  had   not  yet  lost  their 
power  to   charm   her,   and   the   hair-shirt   and 
scourge  she  could  not  make   up   her  mind  to 
endure  without  complaint.     The  sensitive  young 
pupil  had  a  physical  fear  of  austerities,  and  at 
that   time   a  worldly   horror   of    pious   books. 
But  the  natural  instincts  in  that  age  of  asceticism 
had   little   chance   of  being   allowed   to   assert 
themselves,  and  the  pressure  brought  to  bear 
upon  Theresa  by  the  .good  sisters  was  almost 
beyond  her  power  of  resistance.     As  the  time 
drew  near   for   her  to   leave   the  convent,  the 
necessity  for  deciding  upon  her  future  life  dis- 


I 


22 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


turbcd  her  greatly.  On  the  one  side  were  all 
the  nuns,  who  were  constantly  telling  her  that 
the  joys  of  the  world  were  but  fleeting  pleasures, 
and  that  her  mind  ought  to  be  fastened  securely 
upon  heavenly  things.  On  the  other  side  were 
her  natural  youthful  feelings,  leading  her  to 
shrink  before  the  prospect  of  giving  up  forever 
the  innocent  pleasures  and  beauties  of  God's 
earthly  world.  The  child  was  motherless,  and 
had  no  friend  she  could  trust.  Marriage,  now 
that  her  first  love-affair  was  ended,  —  for  noth- 
ing is  heard  of  her  early  love  again,  —  seemed 
Hke  slavery;  and  it  was  a  slavery  without  the 
approval  of  her  conscience,  taught  as  she  had 
been  by  the  nuns  to  believe  that  matrimony  was 
not  an  honorable  estate.  Thus,  between  Scylla 
and  Charybdis,  slavery  and  isolation,  the  poor 
girl  stood ;  and  we  do  not  wonder  that  her 
troubled  mental  state  worked  upon  her  nerves, 
and  her  nerves  upon  her  body,  and  that  she 
soon  became  too  ill  to  make  any  decision  her- 
self. Before  her  second  year  at  the  convent  was 
ended,  her  father  had  to  be  requested  to  take 
her  home ;  then  began  a  long  period  of  invalid- 


WITH   THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS,       23 

ism  for  the  nervous  girl.  That  her  disease  was 
chiefly  mental  is  evident  from  her  last  message 
to  Dona  Briceiio.  She  begged  her  teacher  and 
all  the  sisters  "  to  pray  God  to  call  her  to  the 
state  in  life  where  she  could  best  serve  him; 
and  yet,"  she  adds,  ''  I  had  a  horror  of  being  a 
nun,  and  a  fear  of  marriage."  ^ 

Don  Alfonso,  although  distressed  at  his  young 
daughter's  condition,  was  delighted  to  welcome 
her  back  to  his  lonely  home.     He  thought  that 
a  change  of  air,  with  young  companions,  would 
soon  restore  her  to  health;    and   he   took  her 
with  him  to  make  a  visit  at  her  married  sister's 
country  home,  situated  some  miles  from  Avila, 
in  the  pretty  village  of  Castellanos  de  la  Canada. 
Here  the  beautiful  mountain  scenery,  the  coun- 
try sights  and  sounds,  and  above  all,  the  com- 
panionship of  her  sister  and  her  sister's  children, 
soon  affected  her  body   and  mind.      She  now 
grew  more  cheerful,  her  old  vivacity  returned, 
and  soon  she  was  here,  as  everywhere,  the  life 
of  the'  house.      "  Marie   would   have    liked  to 
have   me   stay  with   her    always,"    she    wrote, 
"  and  her  husband  also  treated  me  with  much 


24 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


affection."  But  Don  Alfonso,  glad  to  have  his 
daughter  with  him,  was  unwilling  to  give  her 
up,  even  to  her  sister,  and  soon  started  with  her 
to  return  home.  Avila  was  some  leagues  from 
Castellanos,  and  the  travellers,  stopping  to  break 
their  journey  at  Hortijosa,  visited  Don  Pedro 
Sanchez  de  Cepeda,  Theresa's  uncle.  While 
there,  Don  Alfonso  was  sent  for  on  business, 
and  started  away  suddenly,  leaving  Theresa  be- 
hind him  for  a  fortnight  under  his  brother's 
care.  Don  Pedro  is  described  as  **  a  prudent, 
excellent  man,  a  widower."  Since  his  wife's 
death  he  had  devoted  himself  to  a  holy  life, 
though  not  having  yet  left  his  own  home  or 
joined  any  religious  order. 

After  the  gay,  happy  days  which  Theresa 
had  spent  in  her  sister's  home,  she  found  the 
old  man's  house  decidedly  dull.  There  were 
no  merry  sounds  of  laughter  to  be  heard,  no 
games  were  permitted,  and  life  took  on  a  very 
sombre  hue;  the  situation  was  almost  as  de- 
pressing as  had  been  her  first  few  days  in 
the  Augustinian  Convent.  Don  Pedro  allowed 
no  romances  to  be  read   in  his  house,  and  no 


WITH  THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS,      25 


frivolities  of  any  kind  to  be  mentioned.  His 
days  were  spent  in  reading  pious  books,  and 
his  conversation  was  wholly  upon  the  infinite 
perfections  of  God,  and  the  fleeting  vanities 
of  the  w^orld.  Some  of  these  pious  books  the 
good  old  man  persuaded  his  niece  to  read  aloud 
to  him;  and,  as  she  afterwards  confessed,  this 
was  not  at  that  time  a  very  congenial  oc- 
cupation. *' These  books,"  she  writes,  "he 
made  me  read  to  him;  and  though  I  did  not 
much  like  them,  I  appeared  as  though  I  did." 
Poor,  vain  little  Theresa  could  not  be  happy 
unless  she  pleased  those  whom  she  was  with. 
Her  loving,  lovable  nature  craved  the  appro- 
bation and  approval  of  others,  and  was  at  the 
mercy  of  those  who  surrounded  her.  At  first, 
then,  she  "  appeared "  interested  in  her  un- 
cle's religious  reading  to  please  him,  and  in  a 
very  short  time  the  books  he  put  into  her 
hands  really  touched  her  tender,  impressionable 
heart. 

Don  Pedro  himself  was  about  this  time  con- 
sidering the  question  of  giving  up  all  his 
worldly    possessions    and    becoming    a    monk. 


26 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


Naturally  his  thoughts  and  conversation  were  all 
directed  towards  spiritual  themes.      The  books 
he  placed  in  his  niece's  hands  were  the  "  Con- 
fessions of  Saint  Augustine,"   the   "  Letters   of 
Jerome,"  and  the  '*  Morals  of  Gregory,"  — strange 
reading    for   a    lively   Spanish    girl    of   sixteen 
years.      But  Theresa  was  adaptable;   and  from 
the  first  she  determined  to  win  her  lonely  uncle's 
affection.     Day  after  day  she  sat  in  his  library, 
her  pretty  brown  eyes  fastened  intently  on  the 
manuscript  lines  of  the  Holy  Fathers  which  he 
had  given  her  to  read.     Here  she  read  over  and 
over  again  that  this  present  life  and  all  it  con- 
tained was  only  vanity ;   and  there  close  to  her 
was  a  man  she  respected  greatly,  who  was  only 
too   ready   to   confirm   these  pessimistic  utter- 
ances.    Don  Alfonso  had  intended  to  have  his 
daughter    remain   with   her   uncle    for    a    short 
visit  only;  but  his  return  was  delayed,  and  she 
lingered  there  several  weeks.     What  the  Augus- 
tinian  nuns  had  failed  to  accomplish,  this  quiet 
visit  thoroughly  effected,  and  Theresa  left  her 
uncle's  house,  resolved  to  adopt  the  convent  life 
forever.     It  was  not  contempt  of  a  world  which 


WITH   THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS,       2/ 


she  had  learned  from  experience  to  despise  that 
led  her  to  retire  from  it  so  early,  but  a  super- 
stitious fear  lest  she  could  not  endure  the  perils 
and  temptations  she  had  heard  so  feelingly  de- 
scribed. There  were  no  wise  friends  to  counsel 
this  young  girl.  She  had  been  left  alone  for 
weeks  with  a  gloomy,  unhappy  man  who  had  out- 
lived his  usefulness,  whose  domestic  grief  natu- 
rally led  him  to  take  false  views  of  life.  Her 
constant  reading  had  been  from  the  writings  of 
Jerome,  the  famous  Monk  of  Bethlehem,  whose 
confessions  of  rapture  and  despair  have  always 
had  a  mighty  influence  over  the  female  heart. 
According  to  the  Bollandist's  record  of  our 
saint's  life,  Theresa  read  and  re-read  Jerome's 
"  Letters  to  Paula  Marcella  and  Eutichium," 
pondering  long  over  such  passages  as :  — 

"  O  Desert  strewn  with  the  flowers  of  Christ ! 
Solitude,  where  are  to  be  found  the  mysterious  pre- 
cious stones  out  of  which  the  Apostle  has  built  the 
City  of  God  !  Holy  retreat  where  God  reveals  himself 
with  fulness  !  Brother,  what  dost  thou  find  in  the 
world?  Believe  me,  in  this  solitude  I  see  more  light? 
Here,  freed  from  the  weight  of  the  flesh,  the  soul  takes 
its  flight  to  the  skies." 


28 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


"  I  resolved,"  she  wrote,  "  at  last  to  force  my- 
self to  take  up  the  religious  life.  I  was  more 
influenced  by  servile  fear,  I  think,  than  by  love. 
The  Devil  put  before  me  that  I  could  not 
endure  the  austerities  of  the  life  because  of 
my  delicate  nurture."  But  when  these  doubts 
arose,  Theresa  turned  again  to  Father  Jerome  s 
soothing  words:  — 

"  What  do^t  thou  fear?  Poverty  ?  Jesus  Christ  has 
called  it  blessed  to  be  poor.  Work?  What  athlete 
is  crowned  without  a  combat?  Art  thou  hungry? 
Whoever  believes  in  Christ,  God  will  never  permit  to 
hunger  or  thirst.  Fearest  thou  to  lie  down  naked  on 
the  cold  ground?  Remember  that  near  thee  the  tord 
always  sleeps.  Is  it  the  solitude  which  affrights  thee? 
Lift  up  thy  heart  unto  the  heavens,  and  beheve  that 
the  sufferings  of  the  present  are  not  worthy  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  glories  which  await  thee  hereafter." 

Comforting  words  like  these  burned  them- 
selves into  the  soul  of'  the  susceptible  girl. 
She  was  dissatisfied;  here  she  was  promised 
satisfaction.  She  was  passionate ;  here  she  was 
promised  peace.  Above  all,  she  was  lonely, 
she  had  an  immense  craving  for  love  and  sym- 
pathy;  and  the  words  of  the  Monk  of  Beth- 


■  ,1 


WITH   THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS.       29 

lehem  and  of  Augustine  bade  her  be  assured 

that  there  was  but  one  love  which  would  ever 

satisfy   her,   and    but   one   way   by   which   she 

would  surely  gain  inward  peace. 

She  read  Augustine's  beautiful  rhapsody:  — 

"  O  love  which  bumest  ever  and  art  never  quenched  ! 
O  my  God,  which  art  love  itself,  set  me  wholly  on 
fire  with  thy  fire,  with  the  love  of  thee,  with  thy 
sweetness  !  " 

And  shall  we  marvel  that  it  awoke  a  re- 
sponse in  her  youthful  heart?  The  earthly  love 
she  had  heard  described  in  the  most  fascinat- 
ing romances  of  chivalry  was  as  nothing  com- 
pared to  these  rapturous  joys.  *'  The  soul  that 
loveth,  goeth  up  often  to  the  heavenly  Jeru- 
salem, and  runneth  familiarly  from  street  to 
street,  visiting  the  patriarchs  and  prophets,  sa- 
luting the  apostles,  wondering  at  the  hosts  of 
martyrs  and  confessors,  gazing  at  the  compa- 
nies of  the  virgins,"  wrote  the  greatest  herald  of 
the  Divine  love  the  world  has  ever  known. 

Surely,  Theresa  thought,  it  was  this  pure, 
mysterious  love  that  the  human  soul  was  alone 
created  to  enjoy;  and  with  Saint  Augustine  she 


30 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


cried  aloud,  that  "heaven  and  earth,  and  all 
things  that  are  in  them,  call  upon  me  without 
ceasing  to  love  my  Lord  God." 

It  was  the  hope  of  tasting  the  deep  spiritual 
joys  of  Jerome  and  Augustine  which  finally  led 
Theresa  to  leave  her  own  home,  to  disregard 
her  father's  sacred  wishes,  to  give  up  the  tcn- 
derest  of  earthly  ties,  and  to  fly  like  a  criminal 
to  bury  herself  body  and  soul  within  the  en- 
closure  of  the   Carmelite   Convent   of  the  In- 
carnation ;   for  Don  Alfonso  refused  to  give  his 
consent  to  her  leaving  the  world.     She  says: 
*'  The  utmost  I   could  get  from  him  was  that 
I  might  do  as  I  pleased  after  his  death."     But 
obedience  to  parents  has  always  in  the  Roman 
Church   been     subordinated   to    obedience    to 
priests  and  confessors;   and   Theresa  undoubt- 
edly had  the  approval  of  her  religious   adviser 
in  taking   this    step.     Kot  satisfied  with  going 
away  alone  from  her  father's  house,  and  with 
utterly   disregarding  that  father's   feelings,   the 
young  girl   now  turned    her    attention   to    per- 
suading   her    brother    Antonio    to   join    her    in 
her  flight  and   become  a  friar.     This  she  soon 


WITH  THE  AUGUSTINIAN  NUNS.       3 1 


accomplished,  and  **  we  agreed,"  she  writes,  *'  to 
set  out  one  day,  very  early  in  the  morning,  for 
the  monastery  where  the  friend  of  mine  lived 
for  whom  I  had  so  great  an  affection.  I  re- 
member perfectly  well,  and  it  is  quite  true, 
that  the  pain  I  felt  when  I  left  my  father's 
house  was  so  great,  that  I  do  not  believe  the 
pain  of  dying  will  be  greater,  for  it  seemed  to 
me  as  if  every  bone  in  my  body  were  wrenched 
asunder ;  for  as  I  had  no  love  of  God  to  destroy 
my  love  of  father  and  kindred,  this  latter  love 
came  upon  me  with  a  violence  so  great  that,  if 
our  Lord  had  not  been  my  keeper,  my  own 
resolution  to  go  on  would  have  failed  me.  But 
he  gave  me  courage  to  fight  against  myself,  so 
that  I  executed  my  purpose." 

Thus  we  find  Theresa  setting  forth,  at  early 
dawn,  in  company  with  her  brother  Antonio,  in 
quest  of  that  most  elusive  sangreal,  —  peace. 


32 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


CHAPTER   III. 


THERESA  TAKES  THE  VEIL. 

A  SHORT  distance  from  Avila,  in  a  little  valley 
below  the  city  walls,  was  situated  a  large  estate 
which   once   had   been   the    property  of  Dona 
Elvira  de  Medina.     Two  years  before  Theresa  s 
birth  this  good  woman  generously  offered   her 
patrimony  to  the  Church ;   and  on  it  was  built 
the    monastery  of  the  Incarnation.     Owing  to 
the    large  amount  of  wealth  left  to  found  this 
institution,  it  was  built  to  accommodate  a  great 
number  of  nuns;   so  that  at  one  time  two  hun- 
dred sisters  found  a  home  within  its  walls.     It 
stands   to-day   with  its  chapel  and  clock-tower 
intact,    having   been  but  slightly  altered   in   all 
these    centuries.     The    stranger    is   still    shown 
Theresa's    cell;     and    the   nuns    of  to-day   still 
reverently  abstain  from  using  the  stalls  during 
Mass,  because   they   believe  that   in   Theresa's 


THERESA    TAKES   THE    VEIL, 


33 


time    these    stalls   were    always    occupied    by 
angels. 

When  Theresa,  in  her  walks  with  her  father 
and  brothers,  saw  this  monastery,  her  eyes  al- 
ways lingered   on    it  lovingly.     Its  high  white 
walls,  its  luxuriant  gardens,  its  sheltered  posi- 
tion, all  suggested  a  peaceful  retreat,  where  the 
soul    could    contentedly  give    itself  up    to   the 
contemplation  of  God.     Juano  Suarez,  an  inti- 
mate friend    of  Theresa,  had  taken  the  veil  in 
this    convent    not    long   before,    and    this    fact 
undoubtedly  had  an  influence  in  leading  The- 
resa to  choose  the  Carmelite  Convent  above  all 
others.     At  the  time  she  left  the  Augustinian 
sisters  she  wrote :    "  I  resolved  if  I  ever  became 
a  nun,  not  to  be  in  any  house  except  where  my 
best  friend,  Juano  Suarez,  was."     The   human 
ties,  we  see,  were  not  all  sundered  at  this  time ; 
and  indeed  Theresa  never  succeeded  in  wholly 
stifling   the    crying   needs   of    her   heart.     She 
was   too   human  a  saint   ever   to  learn  to  live 
wholly  without  earthly  love. 

The  sun  had  not  yet  risen,  the  chimes  of  the 
clocks  in  Avila  were  ringing  a  death-knell,  and 

3 


34  SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVI  LA. 

a  solemn  requiem  Mass  sounded  in  the  ears  of 
Theresa,  as  weary  and  breathless    she   entered 
the   Convent  of  the  Incarnation,    and  declared 
her  intention  of  remaining  there  for  life.     How 
little    did   the    inmates   of  this    convent  dream 
that   this    runaway  girl  was   to    become    a   re- 
former of  their  order,  and  to  make  their  con- 
vent famous  for  ages  to  come !     Her  entrance 
into  the  Incarnation  was  certainly  not  conven- 
tional, and  the  prioress  felt  bound  to  let  Don 
Alfonso  know  his  daughter's  decision   at  once. 
Theresa  was  impatient  to  begin  her  new  life  as 
soon  as  possible;   that  very  day  she  laid  aside 
her  fashionable  dress  and  adopted  the  habit  of 
the  sisters,  shrouding  herself  completely  in  the 
folds  of  her  white  veil,  and  allowing  her  beau- 
tiful  black  hair  to  be  sacrificed  without  a  mur- 
n.ur      When  Don  Alfonso  heard  of  his  daugh- 
ter's fli-ht,  he  was  heart-broken.     Again  he  was 
bereft  of  his  children  and  all  that  made  life  en- 
durable ;    but  he  did  not  dare  to  oppose  what 
Theresa  felt  so  strongly  to  be  her  vocation,  and 
sadly  retired  to  his  lonely  house,  there  in  soli- 
tude to  await  his  end. 


THERESA    TAKES   THE    VEIL, 


35 


The  excitement  of  the  new  life,  with  its  new 
duties,  and  the  prospect  of  taking  her  final 
vows,  occupied  Theresa's  mind  through  the  first 
months  of  her  novitiate.  She  was  conscientious 
and  faithful  in  all  her  duties,  and  even  extrava- 
gant in  her  use  of  discipline.  We  find  noted 
that  she  never  wearied  of  doing  little  kindnesses 
for  her  sister  nuns;  she  would  fold  up  their 
cloaks,  light  them  to  their  cells,  and  nurse  them 
with  the  utmost  devotion  when  they  were  ill. 

"  Everything  in  religion,"  she  writes,  "  was  a 
delight  to  me;  and  it  is  true  that  I  used  now 
and  then  to  sweep  the  house  during  those 
hours  of  the  day  which  I  had  formerly  spent 
on  my  amusement  or  my  dress ;  and  calling 
to  mind  that  I  was  delivered  of  such  follies, 
I  was  filled  with  a  new  joy  that  surprised  me, 
nor  could  I  understand  whence  it  came."  But 
this  mysterious  joy  was  not  a  continual  pres- 
ence with  Theresa.  Like  all  other  strong:  feel- 
ings,  it  was  only  an  occasional  visitor.  When 
it  was  gone,  the  young  girl  was  wretched,  and 
her  life  seemed  unendurable.  Then  hot  tears 
fell  freely  and  uncontrollably;  the  nuns  accused 


36 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVILA. 


THERESA    TAKES   THE    VEIL. 


37 


her  of  discontent,  and  she  was  very  miserable. 
Her  uneven,  emotional  nature,  at  one  moment 
exalted  and  at  another  cast  down,  was  not  easy 
to  live  with  or  to  understand ;  her  eager  courtesy 
was  misconstrued  into  officiousness,  and  her  fits 
of  depression  into  bad  temper.  She  was  sub- 
jected to  a  thousand  petty  persecutions  which 
only  women  know  how  to  inflict;  and  she  found 
little  more  real  peace  within  the  convent  than 
she  had  found  in  the  outer  world. 

The  days  of  the  novitiate  came  to   an  end, 
and  Theresa  pronounced  her  final  vows.     The 
solemn  ceremonial  of  taking  the  veil  occurred 
in  the  presence  of  a  vast  assembly  from  Avila. 
All   the   wealth  and   fashion  of  the  town  were 
there.     The  convent  chapel  was  crowded  with 
Theresa's  friends  and  relatives.     The  young  girl 
wore   a  white  veil,    a  garland   of  flowers,   pro- 
fusely gemmed,  on  her  head,  and  a  rich  white 
bridal  gown.      As  she  entered  the  church   she 
was  met  by  a  procession  of  priests  bearing  the 
elevated  cross.     When  she  arrived  at  the  high 
altar,  one  of  the  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  was  pre- 
sented with  a  small  pair  of  scissors  and  a  silver 


basin.  He  cut  off  one  lock  of  the  girl's  short 
hair,  and  the  procession  then  turned  back  and 
followed  Theresa  to  the  cloister.  There  the  nuns 
received  her,  stripped  her  of  her  gay  apparel,  the 
veil,  garland,  gloves,  and  finally  her  stockings. 
She  was  then  clad  in  the  dark-brown  garb  of  the 
Carmelite  order,  with  the  white  hood  and  cloak. 
The  abbess  took  a  large  pair  of  scissors,  and, 
gathering  her  remaining  locks  into  one  single 
handful,  cut  them  all  off  together;  the  latter 
part  of  the  ceremony  being  performed  in  pro- 
found silence.  Theresa  pronounced  the  vows  of 
chastity,  poverty,  and  obedience,  a  black  cloth 
was  thrown  over  her,  the  funeral  bell  was  tolled, 
she  received  the  communion,  a  brief  sermon  was 
delivered,  the  abbess  kissed  her,  and  the  gloomy 
ceremonies  ended ;  then  people  went  away,  the 
iron  gates  closed,  and  Theresa  was  forever  sepa- 
rated from  the  world  by  an  impassable  gulf. 

From  that  time  Don  Alfonso  was  inconsol- 
able ;  and  Theresa  gave  up  both  her  family  and 
her  fortune.  '*  I  was  only  twenty  years  old,  and 
I  felt  as  if  I  had  subdued  the  world,  the  flesh, 
and  the  devil,"  she  wrote  significantly. 


AtJB 


38  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 

Convent  life  in  the  sixteenth  century  was  far 
from  being  free    from   the    temptations  of  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.     It  was  anything 
but  the  peaceful  religious  life  of  which  Theresa 
had  dreamed.     A  building  which  held  two  hun- 
dred women  drawn    together    through    a   wide 
variety   of  motives,  social  as  well  as  religious, 
where  there  was  no  vow  of  seclusion,  could  not 
be  a  very  quiet  retreat.     It  was  against  human 
nature  to  expect  that  young  girls  who  had  been 
forced  to  take  the  veil  should  be  strict  and  faith- 
ful to  their  vows.    A  poor  gentleman  who  could 
not  marry  his  daughters  in  his  own  station  sent 
them  into  a  convent;    a  superfluous  daughter  or 
sister  was  easily  disposed  of  in  this  way,  and 
required  but  a  small  portion.     A  woman  whose 
reputation  was  slightly  tarnished,  was  often  un- 
willingly obliged  by  her  relatives  to  enter  one  of 
those  religious  institutions  for  life  ;   and  the  large 
convents  of  every  order  had  become  extremely 
lax   in   their   rules   and   regulations.      Many  a 
pretty  nun  led  the  career  of  a  coquette  with- 
out   receiving    the    slightest    admonition    from 
either  the  abbess   or  her  confessor.      In  some 


THERESA    TAKES   THE    VEIL. 


39 


convents,  plays  were  frequently  performed  by 
the  inmates,  to  which  outsiders  were  freely  ad- 
mitted ;  in  many,  the  beauty  of  the  nuns  brought 
numerous  young  noblemen  as  visitors.  After 
calling  on  the  sisters  and  flirting  with  them, 
these  '*  gilded  youth  "  often  sent  them  presents 
of  flowers  and  bonbons  the  next  day;  and 
could  we  have  listened  to  the  songs  sung  by 
the  Spanish  nuns  of  the  Incarnation,  as  they 
sat  in  their  cells,  we  should  have  found  them 
secular  songs  of  the  most  ardent  description. 
They  sang  the  joys  of  profane  rather  than 
sacred  love.  Religious  duties  were  performed 
perfunctorily  by  most  of  the  sisters,  who  gave 
the  larger  part  of  their  time  and  thought  to 
talking  gossip  and  planning  new  amusements. 

It  was  for  this  hypocritical,  irregular,  and 
unsatisfying  life  that  Theresa  had  left  her  wid- 
owed father  and  her  happy  home  duties.  She 
had  taken  the  veil  despite  her  doubts,  because 
she  truly  believed  herself  called  to  adopt  the 
religious  life,  and  because  she  knew  herself  to 
be  weak  in  the  face  of  worldly  temptations. 
She  had  made  her  vows  with  earnestness,  and 


40 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


had  consecrated  her  whole  life  conscientiously 
to  God  and  his  work.    Now,  to  her  utter  amaze- 
ment, she  found  herself  almost  alone  in  her  high 
purposes,  and  surrounded  by  dangers  and  pitfalls 
a  thousand  times  more  seductive  than  any  to 
which  she  had  been  exposed  in  the  world.     As 
a  novice,  she  had  been  shielded  from  intimacy 
with  the  older  sisters,  and   much  of  her  time 
had    been   taken    up    by    religious    instruction; 
but  as  soon  as  she  became  one  with  the  rest 
of  the  community,  she  found  how  different  from 
her  innocent  dream  was  the  hard  reality.     In 
those  days  every  convent  had  an  abbess,  who 
was  supposed    to   overlook  the  conduct  of  the 
nuns;   but  often  the  abbesses  were  young,  and 
utterly    unfit    for    their    responsible    positions. 
Many  of  the  nuns,  too,  bitterly  resented  any  in- 
terference ;    and  if  they  attended  to  their  formal 
religious  duties,  they  expected  to  be  allowed  to 
come  in  and  go  out  whenever  they  pleased.    The 
result  was,  that  a  constant  stream  of  visitors, 
men  and  women  alike,  was  to  be  seen  commg 
and  eoind  from  the  convent ;   and  the  beautiful 
gardens  which  surrounded  it  gave  ample  oppor- 


THERESA    TAKES   THE    VEIL. 


41 


tunity  for  flirtations  and  friendships  between 
both  sexes.  In  the  early  centuries  of  monastic 
life  the  cells  of  the  nuns  were  bare  of  all  orna- 
ments; at  this  period  they  had  been  trans- 
formed into  dainty  boudoirs.  Novel-reading, 
idle  chattering,  and  singing  took  up  the  atten- 
tion of  nearly  all  the  inmates,  who  were  really 
only  separated  from  the  outer  world  by  their 
religious  dress. 

In  Spain,  convent  life  was  less  openly  im- 
moral than  in  France  and  Italy;  but  even  in 
Spain  the  relations  between  the  priests  and  the 
nuns  were  too  intimate  to  remain  always  pure. 
The  ideal  of  convent  life  had  been  slowly  alter- 
ing; the  institutions  remained,  but  the  spirit 
which  had  founded  and  filled  them  was  dead. 
They  had  become  convenient  houses  of  refuge 
for  unmarried  women  and  widows,  permanent 
boarding-houses,  with  all  the  disadvantages 
such  institutions  are  sure  to  have.  With  neither 
regular  occupations  nor  serious  duties  to  fill 
their  days,  the  sisters  constantly  quarrelled  with 
one  another  ;  petty  jealousies  and  feuds  were 
fostered;    the    daily    life    became    trivial,    and 


42  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

never  rose  to  any  high  rcHgious  level.  This 
was  a  very  different  life  from  the  one  Theresa 
had  imagined;  she  had  found  out  the  wisdom  of 
the  saying,  '*  Many  seek  to  fly  temptations,  and 
do  fall  more  grievously  into  them."  In  shut- 
ting out  the  world,  she  had  only  shut  herself 

in  with  sin. 

Disappointed  with  her  chosen  vocation,  and 
dissatisfied  with  her  companions,  Theresa  be- 
came restless  and  unhappy.     Her  state  of  mind 
preyed   upon   her   body,  and  she  rapidly  lost 
strength.      Her   physical    condition  was   much 
like  the  modern  one  which  we  call  *'  nervous 
depression."     Fainting-fits  were   frequent;   she 
spent  long    days   in    the   infirmary,  unable    to 
listen    to    either  reading  or   conversation;    she 
lost  courage  about  herself,  and  for  a  time  both 
friends   and   relatives  imagined  she  was  on  the 
brink  of  the  grave.      As  the  relaxed  rules  of 
the  Carmelites  permitted  the  nuns  to  leave  the 
cloister,  Don  Alfonso  suggested  that  he  should 
again    take    his    daughter    to    visit    her    mar- 
ried   sister,    and    try    the    effect   of   a    change 
of  air. 


THERESA    TAKES   THE    VEIL.  43 

\^e  superior  of  the  Incarnation  directed 
Juano  Suarez  to  accompany  Theresa  on  her 
journey;  and  in  the  month  of  November,  1535, 
the  two  nuns  set  out  for  Castellanos,  with  Don 
Alfonso  as  an  escort.  Travelling  in  those  days, 
in  coaches  without  springs,  over  rough  roads, 
and  through  wild  and  dangerous  parts  of  the 
country,  was  far  from  agreeable.  The  journey 
was  long  and  fatiguing  for  Theresa  in  her  weak 
state  of  health;  and  although  they  rested  sev- 
eral times  on  the  way,  she  reached  her  sister's 
house  in  what  was  at  first  thought  to  be  a  dying 
condition.  She  rallied  after  a  few  days,  how- 
ever, but  improved  only  slowly.  At  times  a 
trace  of  her  old  gayety  would  return,  and  Marie 
with  her  two  children  would  delight  in  making 
her  smile  occasionally  as  she  had  done  in  the 
old  days.  But  her  smiles  were  rare,  for  her 
sufferings  were  too  intense  and  continuous  to 
allow  her  much  peace.  "  For  three  months," 
she  wrote,  "  I  was  suffering  most  cruel  torture." 
At  Castellanos,  they  remained  nearly  a  year ; 
but  at  last,  discouraged  that  his  daughter  did 
not  improve   in   health,   her   father   decided  to 


44 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


place    Theresa    under    the    care    of   a    famous 
woman-physician  who  was   at   that  time  hving 
at  Bezedas.     The  journey  thither  was  made  by 
slow  stages,    Marie  her  sister,   and   Juano  her 
intimate  friend,  doing  their  best  to   make  the 
invalid  comfortable  on  the  way.     When  they 
arrived,  Don  Alfonso  confided  his  daughter  to 
the  woman  whose  cures  had  given  her  such  a 
reputation,  and  the  whole  party  hopefully  waited 
for  the  result  of  her  treatment.     But  the  woman 
was  utterly  unable  to  relieve  Theresa's  suffering, 
and  by  dosing  her  with  violent  remedies  only 
made    her   worse;    some   medicine    given   her 
while  there  affected  her  digestion,  and  for  weeks 
she  was  obliged  to  give  up  eating  all  solid  food. 
"  My  pains  were  unendurable,"  she  wrote,  ''  and 
I  was  overwhelmed  in  most  deep  sadness,    so 
that  I  had  no  rest  cither  night  or  day." 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.     45 


CHAPTER   IV. 


PHYSICAL  AND   SPIRITUAL  TRIALS. 


During  Theresa's  stay  in  Bezedas  an  incident 
occurred  which  throws  light  on  the  peculiar 
temptations  which  beset  young  nuns  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  She  tells  us  that  in  the 
place  she  had  gone  for  her  cure  '*  there  lived 
a  priest  of  good  understanding  and  birth,  with 
some  learning,  but  not  much.  I  went  to  con- 
fession to  him,  for  I  was  always  fond  of  learned 
men."  This  priest  took  "an  extreme  liking" 
to  the  young  girl.  She  says :  "  There  was  no 
harm  in  the  liking  he  had  for  me ;  but  it  ceased 
to  be  good,  because  it  was  in  excess.  .  .  .  Our 
conferences  were  many.  But  at  that  time, 
through  the  knowledge  and  fear  of  God  which 
filled  my  soul,  what  gave  me  most  pleasure  in 
my  conversations  with  others  was  to  speak  of 
God;  and  as  I  was  so  young,  this   made   him 


46 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


ashamed.  And  then  out  of  that  great  good- 
will he  bore  me  he  began  to  tell  me  of  his 
wretched  state."  The  priest,  in  fact,  made  his 
vile  confession  to  this  beautiful  young  girl. 
What  the  state  of  society  and  religion  must 
have  been  to  allow  this  familiar  intimacy  be- 
tween a  corrupt  man  and  an  innocent  girl,  we 
cannot  conceive.  "  I  was  extremely  sorry 
for  him,"  Theresa  writes,  "  because  I  liked  him 
much.  I  was  then  so  imprudent  and  so  blind 
as  to  think  it  a  virtue  to  be  grateful  and  loyal 
to  one  who  liked  me.  I  spoke  to  him  most 
frequently  of  God ;  and  this  must  have  done  him 
good,  though  what  touched  him  most  was  his 
great  affection  for  me.  He  began  to  consider 
all  that  he  had  done  in  those  years,  like  a  man 
roused  from  a  deep  sleep,"  and  died  not  long 
after,  "  most  piously  and  completely  withdrawn 
from  that  occasion  of  sin."  It  is  needless  to 
comment  on  this  misuse  of  the  confessional. 
Certainly  the  religious  orders  had  need  of  be- 
ing reformed. 

Several  months  were  passed  by  Theresa  and 
her  devoted  family  in  Bezedas.     Her  strength 


ft 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.     47 

seemed  to  fail  continuously,  and  her  sufferings 
increased.     "  The  severity  of  the  pain    in    my 
heart,  for  the  cure  of  which  I  was  there,"   she 
writes,   "was    much   more  keen;   it  seemed   to 
me,  now  and  then,  as  if  it  had  been  seized  with 
sharp  teeth.     So  great  was  the  torment,  that  it 
was  feared  it  might  end  in  madness.     I  was  in 
pain  from  head  to  feet."    Discouraged  with  the 
result   of  this  medical  treatment,  Don  Alfonso 
thought  it  best  to  take  his  daughter  home,  as 
he  now  felt  sure,  to  die.     "  There  was  a  choking 
in  my  throat  because  I  had  eaten  nothing,  and 
because  of  my  weakness,  so  that  I   could  not 
swallow  even  a  drink  of  water.     As  to  touching 
me,  that  was  impossible;    I  was   so  bruised  I 
could  not  endure  it."      The  journey  to  Avila 
was  almost  like  a  funeral  march,  Theresa   be- 
ing borne  upon  a  sheet.     Her  fainting-fits  grew 
more  protracted,  and  she  once  remained  so  long 
unconscious  that  she  was  given  up  for  dead,  and 
her  grave  was  prepared.     When  she  finally  re- 
covered consciousness,  and  learned  her  critical 
condition,  she  begged  to  be  allowed  to  return 
to  the  Incarnation  to  die.      Still  borne  upon  a 


48 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


sheet,  and  pale  as  death,  she  was  received  there 
by  her  sister  nuns  on  Palm  Sunday,  1537.  Her 
disease  was  then  pronounced  to  be  paralysis, 
and  for  two  years  she  was  confined  to  the  in- 
firmary, and  suffered  the  most  excruciating  pain. 
Her  patience  under  her  long  illness  was  touch- 
ing, and  all  in  the  convent  learned  to  love  her. 
It  grew  to  be  the  custom  for  the  sisters  to  gather 
around  her  sick-bed  at  evening  to  tell  the  news 
of  the  day.  *'  I  never  spoke  ill  in  the  slightest 
degree  whatever  of  any  one,"  wrote  Theresa; 
"  for  I  used  to  keep  most  carefully  in  mind  that 
I  ought  not  to  assent  to  nor  to  say  of  another 
anything  I  should  not  like  said  of  myself" 

The  days  passed  slowly  for  the  young  girl, 
though  she  writes,  **  I  was  resigned  to  the  will 
of  God,  even  if  he  left  me  in  this  state  forever." 
This,  however,  was  not  to  be ;  and  with  patience 
and  care,  after  three  years  she  was  restored  to 
her  usual  health.  "  O  my  God,"  she  had  some- 
times exclaimed  during  her  illness,  **  I  only 
wished  for  health  that  I  might  serve  thee  bet- 
ter !  "  But  in  spite  of  the  willingness  of  the 
spirit,  her  flesh  proved  weak.     With  returning 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.     49 


health  came  new  temptations  which  often  were 
too  strong  for  Theresa  to  resist.  Friends  came 
frequently  to  congratulate  her  upon  her  re- 
covery, and  interviews  at  the  grated  window 
proved  more  fascinating  than  the  loneliness  of  the 
cell.  Conversations  with  so-called  *'  seculars  " 
charmed  the  girl,  and  the  vivacity  of  her  own 
brilliant  mind  attracted  to  her  side  a  host  of 
her  old  friends  and  acquaintances.  The  very 
frivolities  she  had  condemned  in  others  she 
now  indulged  in  herself  '*  I  went,"  she  wrote, 
"  from  pastime  to  pastime,  and  from  vanity  to 
vanity,  and  from  one  occasion  of  sin  to  another, 
until  I  was  so  distracted  by  many  vanities  that 
I  was  ashamed  to  draw  near  to  God  in  an  act 
of  such  special  friendship  as  prayer."  In  this 
confession  we  see  the  sincerity  of  Theresa's 
nature.  She  could  not  be  satisfied  with  a  for- 
mal piety.  Her  inner  and  her  outer  life  must 
be  consistent,  to  fulfil  her  own  ideal  of  right. 
After  her  illness,  Theresa  was  held  in  high 
esteem  by  all  the  inmates  of  the  convent,  and 
as  much  liberty  was  given  her  as  was  given  to 
the  oldest  nuns. 

4 


Ni 


50 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


"The  reason  why,"  she  writes,  "they  thought 
I  was  not  so  wicked,  was  this ;  they  saw  that  I 
liked  to  have  an  oratory  of  my  own,  furnished 
with  objects  of  devotion,  that  I  spoke   ill  of  no 
one,  and  other  things  in  me  which  have  the  ap- 
pearance of  virtue.     Yet  all  the  while  I  was  so 
vain,  —  I  knew  how  to  procure  respect  for  my- 
self for  doing  those  things  which  in  the  world 
are  usually  regarded  with  respect.     In  conse- 
quence of  this  they  had  great  confidence  in  me. 
As  for  conversing  in  secret  or  at  night,  I  never 
thought  of  such  a  thing,  and   I    never  did  any- 
thing without  leave."    Still,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
abbess  and  confessors   left  a  wide  margin  for 
the  sisters.     Theresa's  conversations  with  those 
outside  the  convent  walls  grew  more  frequent 
and  more  engrossing;   and  she  found  they  did 
not  increase  her  piety,  but  did   chill  her  devo- 
tional feelings.     In  vain  she  tried   to  persuade 
her  conscience  that  these  interviews  were  harm- 
less ;   it  was  too  sensitive  to  be  silenced  easily, 
and  she  often  felt  severe  pangs  of  remorse  when 
in  the  midst  of  her  pleasures.     Once  while  en- 
gaged in  an  agreeable  conversation  with  a  new 


PHYSICAL   AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.      5 1 

acquaintance,  remorse  affected  her  imagination 
so  strongly  that  she  thought  Christ  himself 
appeared  before  her,  grave  and  stern,  leading 
her  to  understand  that  much  in  her  conduct 
was  offensive  to  him.  "  I  saw  him  with  the 
eyes  of  the  soul  more  distinctly  than  I  could 
have  seen  him  with  the  eyes  of  the  body,  and 
was  greatly  astonished  and  disturbed,  resolving 
not  to  see  again  the  person  I  was  then  talking 
with." 

This  acquaintance  must  have  been  exceed- 
ingly agreeable,  however,  for  Theresa  writes : 
**  I  went  back  to  my  conversation  with  the  same 
person,  and  with  others  also ;  and  I  spent  many 
years  in  the  pestilent  amusement;  for  it  never 
appeared  to  me,  when  I  was  engaged  in  it,  to 
be  so  bad  as  it  really  was,  though  at  times  I 
saw  clearly  it  was  not  good."  On  another  occa- 
sion, when  conversing  with  this  same  lady,  in 
company  with  several  others,  we  are  told  that 
they  all  saw  a  great  toad  creeping  towards  them 
much  faster  than  was  natural  to  the  animal. 
This  trifling  incident  made  a  deep  impression 
on  our  saint.     She  looked  upon  it  as  a  super- 


/ 


52  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

natural  warning,  but  she  continued  her  much- 
loved    conversations.      Exactly  what   was    the 
nature  of  these  conversations,  and  what  were 
the   particular  sins  which  Theresa   reproaches 
herself  for  having  committed  about  this  time, 
a   careful   study  of  her   own  writings,  and    of 
those  of  her  different  biographers,  fails  to  re- 
veal.    Was  her  conscience,  like  the  conscience 
of  many  a  religious  devotee,  supersensitive?   Or 
did  she  at  this  period  in  her  life  commit  some 
real  sin  for  which  she  needed  to  reproach  her- 
self ?     The  Roman  Church  calls  Theresa  "  sin- 
less," and  because  sinless,  honors  her  with  the 
name  of  *'  saint."     But  that  Church's  use  of  the 
word  ''saint"  has  no  Scriptural  authority,  and 
there  are  many  who  have  won  this  title  in  their, 
last  years,  whose  early  lives  have  been  far  from 

pure. 

It  is  certain  that  in  the  year  1541.  Theresa 
had  yielded  to  many  temptations,  though  what 
the  nature  of  these  temptations  was  we  shall 
probably  never  know.  One  of  the  eldest  and 
most  pious  of  the  nuns  warned  her  of  her 
dan-cr ;    but  she  writes :  "  1  not  only  did   not 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.      53 

listen  to  her,  but  was   even  offended,  thinking 
she   was    scandalized  without   cause."     By  this 
time,  Theresa  had  begun  to  neglect  all  her  de- 
votional exercises  except   the   vocal  ones  pre- 
scribed  by   the   rule    of    the   order.      At   one 
time  mental  prayer  had  been  with  her  a  delight. 
When  she  first  entered  the   convent,    she  had 
even   been  eager  to   induce  all  the   sisters  to 
try  it,  and  had  converted  her  father,  by  means 
of   good    books,    so    that   he    derived    spiritual 
comfort  from  this  exercise.     Don  Alfonso  used 
to    come    often    to    see    his    daughter,  to    talk 
with   her  upon    religious  themes,  not  knowing 
how  little  her  own  mind  was  set  upon  the  things 
of  God.     She  did  not  dare  to  tell  him  the  truth 
about  herself;  so  she  said  she  was  not  strong 
enough  to  attend  to  any  but  her  choir  duties, 
thus  dulling  her  conscience  by  a  prevarication. 

"  I  saw  clearly,"  she  writes,  '*  that  this  was 
no  excuse  whatever ;  neither,  however,  was  it  a 
sufficient  reason  for  giving  up  a  practice  which 
does  not  require  of  necessity  bodily  strength, 
but  only  love  and  a  habit  thereof;  for  our  Lord 
always  furnishes  an  opportunity  for  it  if  we  but 


54 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


seek  it.  I  say  *  always/  for  there  may  be  times, 
as  in  illness,  and  from  other  causes,  when  we 
cannot  be  much  alone,  yet  it  never  can  be  but 
that  there  must  be-  opportunities  when  our 
strength  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose;  and  in 
sickness  itself,  and  amidst  other  hindrances,  true 
prayer  consists,  when  the  soul  loves,  in  offering 
up  its  burden,  and  in  thinking  of  him  for  whom 
it  suffers."  Don  Alfonso,  however,  never  sus- 
pected that  his  daughter  was  not  telling  him 
the  truth.  He  pitied  her  for  her  ill  health,  but 
never  stayed  with  her  long,  saying  that  he  was 
**  wasting  her  time."  Theresa  writes :  **  As  I  was 
wasting  it  in  other  vanities,  I  cared  little  about 
this." 

The  time  was  now  near  at  hand  when  Theresa 
was  to  lose  her  devoted  father.  He  was  living 
entirely  alone.  All  his  daughters  had  left  him, 
and  his  sons  had  gone  to  seek  their  fortunes  in 
the  newly  discovered  world.  When  Theresa 
heard  that  he  was  ill,  she  went  with  all  speed 
to  nurse  him ;  and  it  was  the  shock  of  his  death 
which  first  aroused  her  from  her  lethargic  men- 
tal and  moral  condition. 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.      55 

<a  went  to   nurse  him,"  she  writes,  "more 
sick  in  spirit  than  he  was  in  body,  owing  to 
my  many  vanities.     I  suffered  much  during  his 
illness.     I  believe  I  rendered  him  some  service 
in   return   for  what  he  had   suffered   in   mine. 
Though  I  was  very  ill,  I  did  violence  to  myself; 
and  though  in  losing  him  I  was  to  lose  all  the 
comfort  and  good  of  my  life,— all  this  he  was 
to  me,  —  I  did  not  betray  my  sorrow,  but  con- 
cealed it  till  he  was  dead,  as  if  I  felt  none.     It 
seemed  as  if  my  very  soul  were  wrenched  when 
I  saw  him  at  the  point  of  death,  my  love  for 
him  was  so  deep." 

After   Don    Alfonso's    death,   his   confessor, 
Father  Vicente,  Baron  of  the  Dominican  order, 
took  seriously  in  hand  the  guidance  of  Theresa's 
soul;    he  had  seen  her  often,  as  she  tenderly 
ministered  to  her  dying  father,  and  he  now  gave 
her  some  excellent  advice  about  the  care  of  her 
spiritual  health.     Father  Vicente  bade  her  go 
to  Communion  once  a  fortnight,  —  a   practice 
which  in  those  days  seems  to  have  been  unusual 
in  nuns.     He  also  told  her  never  to  omit  her 
seasons   of  mental   prayer.     Good   as   Theresa 


56 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


felt  this  counsel  to  be,  she  was  not  strong 
enough  to  follow  it.  She  could  not  at  once 
free  herself  from  her  old  associations. 

"  My  life,"  she  writes,  **  became  more  and 
more  wretched,  because  I  learned  in  prayer 
more  and  more  of  my  faults.  On  the  one  side 
God  was  calling  me,  on  the  other  I  was  follow- 
ing the  world ;  all  the  things  of  God  gave  me 
great  pleasure,  and  yet  I  was  a  prisoner  to  the 
things  of  the  world.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  I 
wished  to  reconcile  two  contradictions  so  much 
at  variance  one  with  another  as  the  life  of  the 
spirit,  and  the  joys,  the  pleasures,  and  the 
amusements  of  sense.  I  suffered  much  in 
prayer,  for  the  spirit  was  slave,  and  not  master, 
and  I  was  not  able  to  shut  up  myself  within 
myself,  without  shutting  up  with  me  a  thou- 
sand vanities  at  the  same  time.  Very  often 
I  was  more  occupied  with  the  wish  to  see 
the  end  of  the  time  I  had  appointed  for  my- 
self to  spend  in  prayer,  and  in  watching  the 
hour-glass,  than  with  other  thoughts  that  were 
good.  If  a  sharp  penance  were  laid  upon  me, 
I  know  of  none  that  I  would  not  very  willingly 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL    TRIALS.      57 

have  undertaken  rather  than  prepare  myself 
for  prayer  by  self-recollection.  The  sadness  I 
felt  in  entering  the  oratory  was  so  great,  that 
it  required  all  the  courage  I  had  to  force  my- 
self in." 

In  this  miserable  state  of  spiritual  paralysis 
Theresa  spent  fourteen  years.  One  day  would 
find  her  prostrate  in  her  oratory,  bathed  in  tears ; 
the  following  day  she  would  be  the  centre  of 
an  admiring  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances. 
Her  spiritual  yearnings  and  aspirations  and  her 
practical  failures  made  her  a  very  human  kind 
of  saint,  and  one  all  of  us  can  understand. 
Her  admirers  have  called  her  a  "  heroine  of  the 
spiritual  life."  But  her  heroism  was  of  that 
temper  which  persists  in  spite  of  repeated  fail- 
ures ;  it  did  not  win  in  the  battle  of  life  without 
a  long  and  wearisome  warfare. 

AmonfT  the  trials  which  Theresa  enumerates 
in  her  autobiography  as  having  occurred  at 
about  this  time,  was  what  she  calls  "the  torture 
of  sermons."  **  I  was  very  fond  of  them,"  she 
writes.  **  If  I  heard  any  one  preach  well  and 
with  unction,  I    felt,  without   my  seeking  it,  a 


58  SAINT  THERESA   OF  AVILA. 

particular  affection  for  him ;  neither  do  I  know 
when  it  came.  Thus  no  sermon  seemed  to  me 
so  bad  but  that  I  hstened  to  it  with  pleasure, 
though  according  to  others  who  heard  it  the 
preaching  was  not  good.  At  one  time  I  had 
great  comfort  in  sermons  ;  at  another  time  they 
distressed  me,  because  they  made  me  feci  that 
I  was  very  far  from  being  what  I  ought  to  have 

been." 

During  these  fourteen  years,  while  Theresa  s 
inner  life  was   torn   by   such    conflicting   emo- 
tions, her  outer  life  changed  little.     Her  father's 
death,   her    brother   Lawrence's    departure    for 
America,   and   her    youngest   sister's   marriage 
were  the  only  events  of  importance.     Meantime 
the  temptations  of  her  convent  life   increased. 
Each  year  the  Monastery  of  the    Incarnation 
added   to   its   inmates   but  not  to   its  income. 
Young  girls   in   large   numbers  were   received 
there  to  be  educated,  and  it  became  one  of  the 
great   attractions   of  the   little   town  of  Avila. 
The  noble  ladies  of  the  city  were  called  upon 
to  help  support  the   institution,  and,  in  return 
for  their  assistance,  claimed  the  right  of  being 


(I 


PHYSICAL  AND  SPIRITUAL   TRl. 

admitted  at  all  hours.  Theresa,  with  her  bel 
her  originality,  and  her  warm  sympathies,  w^ 
the  favorite  of  all  the  nuns.  She  was  made 
the  confidante  of  many  a  fashionable  visitor, 
and  was  loved  and  sought  after  by  all.  This . 
love,  and  the  consciousness  of  pleasing,  was 
her  heaven.  She  could  not  make  up  her  mind 
to  renounce  the  human  joys  of  friendship  and 
the  pleasure  of  pleasing,  even  for  conscience' 
sake. 


7/iVr  THERESA    OF  A  IT  LA. 


PERFECT  CONVERSION. 


6l 


CHAPTER   V. 

THERESA'S    PERFECT   CONVERSION. 

Not  until  the  year  1555,  when  Theresa  was 
forty  years  old,  did  she  finally  put  an  end  to 
her  dangerous  intimacies  with  seculars.  It  took 
twenty  years  of  earnest  effort  before  she  could 
make  up  her  mind  to  give  up  the  world, 
which  in  the  ignorance  of  youth,  at  twenty,  she 
thought  lay  crushed  beneath  her  feet.  The 
saying  of  Job,  that  ''  the  life  of  man  upon  this 
earth  is  a  continual  warfare,"  she  had  found  to 
be  true.  In  endeavoring  to  fly  temptations  she 
had  only  **  fallen  precipitately  into  them."  As 
we  find  noted  in  Thomas  ^  Kempis,  **  It  is  by 
gradual  advances,  rather  than  impetuous  efforts, 
that  victory  is  obtained." 

Through  all  this  long  season  of  failure, 
Theresa  had  never  doubted  that  the  ideal  of 
the  monastic  life  was  the  highest  ideal  possible 


for  her  in  this  world.     She  deplored  her  own 
weakness,   but    never    regretted    her    vocation. 
Her  aspirations  were  lofty,  the  direction  of  her 
life  was  upward,  but  her  will-power  was  weak. 
She  had  one  of  those  restless,  passionate  na- 
tures whose   "reach"   exceeds   their    "grasp," 
and  often  reminds  us  of  George  Eliot,  who  in 
"Romola"  urges  above  all  things  else  faithful- 
ness to  the  marriage-tic,  but  whose  own  wedded 
life  was  far  from  being  above  criticism.     With 
ideals  immeasurably  superior,   and  possibilities 
infinitely   greater   than   those   with    whom   she 
lived,  Theresa  failed  for  twenty  years  to  reach 
even  the  conventional  standard  of  duty.     Her 
sensitive,  high-strung  nature  was  capable  of  as- 
cending loftier  heights  and  of  sinking  into  lower 
abysses    than   were   more   commonplace   souls. 
She  was,  we  find,  easily  moved  by  all  the  in- 
fluences of  the  senses ;  the  beautiful  leaves  of 
the  book  of  Nature,  flowers,  birds,  and  all  lovely 
things  she  used  to  lift  her  soul  towards  God; 
the  outward  image  was  almost  indispensable  to 
her  special  kind  of  piety.     Her  mysticism  was 
of  a  coarser  kind  than  that  of  Madame  Guyon, 


f 


62 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


PERFECT  CONVERSION, 


63 


and  she  could  not  have  derived  any  comfort 
from  the  cold,  bare  forms  of  Protestant  worship- 
Every  deep  spiritual  experience  was  with  her 
the  direct  outcome  of  some  outward  sensuous 
impression.  Her  fancy  was  so  vivid  that  it 
turned  the  slightest  objective  occurrences  into 
supernatural  warnings.  What  she  calls  her 
"  perfect  conversion  "  arose  from  a  strong  sen- 
suous impression.  We  give  her  own  account 
of  it:  — 

« It  came  to  pass,  one  day  when  I  went  into  the 
oratory,  that  I  saw  a  picture  which  they  had  put  by 
there,  and  which  had  been  procured  for  a  certain  feast 
to  be  observed  in  the  house.  It  was  a  representation 
of  Christ  most  grievously  wounded,  and  so  devotional 
that  the  very  sight  of  it,  when  I  saw  it,  moved  me,  so 
well  did  it  show  forth  that  which  he  suffered  for  us. 
With  such  keenness  did  I  feel  the  evil  return  I  had 
made  for  those  wounds,  that  I  thought  my  heart  was 
breaking.  I  threw  myself  on  the  ground  beside  it, 
my  tears  flowing  plenteously,  and  implored  him  to 
strengthen  me  once  for  all,  so  that  I  might  never  offend 
him  any  more." 

About  this  time,  Theresa  again  became  inter- 
ested in  the  "  Confessions  of  Saint  Augustine." 


K 


The  account  of  his  conversion  she  pondered 
over,  especially  dwelling  on  his  words,  "  How 
long,  O  Lord,  how  long?  To-morrow?  Why 
not  to-day?  Why  should  not  to-day  put  an 
end  to  my  baseness?" 

"When  I  began  to  read  these  confessions," 
she  writes,  "  I  thought  myself  described,  and  I 
began  to  recommend  myself  greatly  to  this 
glorious  saint.  When  I  came  to  his  conver- 
sion, and  read  how  he  heard  that  voice  in  the 
garden,  it  seemed  to  me  nothing  less  than  that 
our  Lord  had  uttered  it  for  me,  I  felt  it  so  in 
my  heart."  The  effect  of  Saint  Augustine's  con- 
fessions upon  Theresa  was  to  completely  with- 
draw her  interest  from  the  world.  In  time,  she 
gave  up  most  of  her  agreeable  friendships, 
and  devoted  herself  wholly  to  the  things  of 
God.  Her  nature  was  one,  as  we  know,  which 
was  always  prone  to  extremes ;  it  was  not  pos- 
sible for  her  simply  to  give  up  her  intimacies 
with  seculars  and  thereafter  lead  a  commonplace, 
conscientious  religious  life.  Her  enthusiastic 
spirit  and  vivid  fancy  could  not  be  cast  in  or- 
dinary moulds ;  they  refused  to  grow  symmetri- 


64 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


PERFECT  CONVERSION. 


65 


cally,  and  she  took  a  sudden  and  extraordinary 
leap  from  worldliness  into  ascetism.  Soon  wc 
find  the  woman  who  had  been  unable  to  fix 
her  mind  upon  God  long  enough  to  put  herself 
into  a  condition  for  mental  prayer,  the  recipient 
of  special  spiritual  favors.  She  began,  directly 
after  her  "  perfect  conversion,"  to  enjoy  what 
she  calls  **  the  prayer  of  union,"  and  in  her 
autobiography  she  gives  a  full  account  of  the 
mysterious  spiritual  favors  which  she  received 
at  about  this  time  in  her  life. 

Now,  it  happened  that  the  whole  subject  of 
*' Divine  favors"  in  prayer  had  been  exciting 
much  attention  in  Spain  at  about  this  time, 
owing  to  the  discovery  of  a  certain  imposture 
which  had  scandalized  the  Church.  A  nun,  by 
name  Magdalene  of  the  Cross,  had  entered  a 
convent  in  Cordova  when  a  mere  child,  and  had 
attracted  much  notice  by  her  apparent  sanctity. 
She  had  been  chosen  abbess,  and  in  that  office 
had  conferred  many  temporal  benefits  on  the 
community,  her  influence  bringing  to  it  large 
offerings.  She  had  several  pretended  revela- 
tions of  distant  events,  such  as  the  captivity  of 


Francis  I.,  and  the  like.  She  was  also  thought 
to  work  miracles.  One  of  these,  as  reported, 
was  that  she  was  sometimes  seen  with  the  In- 
fant Jesus  in  her  arms,  and  that  at  such  times 
her  hair  appeared  to  reach  to  her  feet.  An- 
other legend,  showing  the  absurd  credulity  of 
the  people,  was  that  when  the  religious  went  to 
Holy  Communion,  although  the  particles  for 
consecration  had  been  most  carefully  counted, 
the  priest  would  often  miss  one,  which  was 
sure  to  be  found  in  the  mouth  of  Magdalene 
of  the  Cross,  as  if  she  had  received  it  at  the 
hands  of  the  angels.  It  was  said  that  even 
kings  and  the  Pope  commended  themselves  to 
her  prayers,  and  that  her  influence  over  all 
around  her  was  overpowering.  Suddenly,  to 
the  amazement  of  the  whole  Catholic  world, 
this  sainted  woman  confessed  that  all  her 
visions  and  miracles  had  been  impostures,  and 
that  she  had  really  been  under  the  influence  of 
the  Devil  all  the  time.  The  wretched  woman 
was  immediately  dismissed  from  her  convent 
and  punished  by  imprisonment;  the  account  of 
her  deception  scandalized  the  whole   of  Spain 

5 


ill 


\ 


66 


SAINT   THERESA    OF  AVI  LA, 


and  made  even   the    priests   fearful    of  putting 
their  faith  in  stories  told  by  visionary  nuns. 

With  Magdalene's  experience  as  a  warning, 
it   is   no   wonder  that   the    friends   of  Theresa 
trembled  when  she  spoke  of  her  "  Divine  favors." 
She  herself  thought  that  her  spiritual  consola- 
tions made  her  better  and   more  humble;  but 
how  could  she  be  sure  that  they  came  from  the 
hands  of  God,  and  not  from  the  hands  of  the 
Devil,  who,  we  must  remember,  was  believed  in 
those  days  to  be  a  very  real  and  present  person- 
acre      In  creat  distress  of  mind,  almost  in  de- 
spair,  Theresa  consulted  her  excellent  kinsman, 
Don  Francis  Salvcdo,  asking  him  to  give   her 
the  name  of  some  wise   spiritual  director.     He 
advised  her  to  consult  a  priest  of  great  learning, 
named  Caspar  Daza.     This  priest,  though  dis- 
tinguished for  both  his  learning  and  his  piety, 
did    not  appear  to  understand    Theresa's    case. 
He  was  inclined  to  think  that  her  visions  were 
«'  diabolical  delusions,"  and  advised  her  to  give 
up  the  habit  of  mental  prayer  altogether.     At 
the  same  time,  doubtful  of  his  own  judgment, 
he  bade  her  seek  counsel  from  one   of  the  new 


i 


PERFECT  CONVERSION, 


67 


Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  lately  been  estab- 
lished in  Avila;  for  members  of  this  society 
were  supposed  to  have  deep  experience  in  spir- 
itual matters. 

The  new  order  of  the  Jesuits  had  a  great 
reputation  for  sanctity,  and  Theresa  knew  that 
if  she  sent  for  one  of  these  fathers  to  confess 
her,  it  would  attract  the  attention  and  comment 
of  all  her  sister  nuns.  Therefore  when  she 
made  up  her  mind  to  send  for  Father  Padra- 
fios,  she  begged  the  portress  of  the  convent  to 
say  nothing  to  the  other  sisters  about  his  com- 
ing. Alas !  it  was  useless  to  try  to  keep  a 
secret  in  a  household  of  two  hundred  women. 
Aldiough  there  was  only  a  single  nun  at  the 
door  when  the  Jesuit  father  entered,  in  a  very 
few  minutes  all  the  nuns  in  the  convent  knew 
that  Theresa  had  sent  for  a  Jesuit  confessor, 
and  this  trifling  breach  of  convent  etiquette  was 
talked  over  and  commented  upon  by  all  the 
sisters,  who  were  as  ready  as  boarding-school 
girls  to  gossip  over  one  another's  doings. 

Although  a  young  man.  Father  Padranos  had 
been  carefully  trained   to  an  understanding  of 


66 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


and  made  even   the   priests  fearful   of  putting 
their  faith  in  stories  told  by  visionary  nuns. 

With  Magdalene's  experience  as  a  warning, 
it   is    no   wonder   that   the    friends    of  Theresa 
trembled  when  she  spoke  of  her  *'  Divine  favors." 
She  herself  thought  that  her  spiritual  consola- 
tions made   her  better  and   more  humble;   but 
how  could  she  be  sure  that  they  came  from  the 
hands  of  God,  and  not  from  the  hands  of  the 
Devil,  who,  we  must  remember,  was  believed  in 
those  days  to  be  a  very  real  and  present  person- 
age.    In  great  distress  of  mind,  almost  in  de- 
spair, Theresa  consulted  her  excellent  kinsman, 
Don  Francis  Salvedo,  asking  him  to  give   her 
the  name  of  some  wise  spiritual  director.     He 
advised  her  to  consult  a  priest  of  great  learning, 
named  Caspar  Daza.     This  priest,  though  dis- 
tinguished for  both  his  learning  and  his  piety, 
did    not  appear  to  understand   Theresa's   case. 
He  was  inclined  to  think  that  her  visions  were 
"  diabolical  delusions,"  and  advised  her  to  give 
up  the  habit  of  mental  prayer  altogether.     At 
the  same  time,  doubtful  of  his  own  judgment, 
he  bade  her  seek  counsel  from  one  of  the  new 


PERFECT  CONVERSION, 


Society  of  Jesus,  which  had  lately  been  estab- 
lished in  Avila;  for  members  of  this  society 
were  supposed  to  have  deep  experience  in  spir- 
itual matters. 

The  new  order  of  the  Jesuits  had  a  great 
reputation  for  sanctity,  and  Theresa  knew  that 
if  she  sent  for  one  of  these  fathers  to  confess 
her,  it  would  attract  the  attention  and  comment 
of  all  her  sister  nuns.  Therefore  when  she 
made  up  her  mind  to  send  for  Father  Padra- 
iios,  she  begged  the  portress  of  the  convent  to 
say  nothing  to  the  other  sisters  about  his  com- 
ing. Alas !  it  was  useless  to  try  to  keep  a 
secret  in  a  household  of  two  hundred  women. 
Although  there  was  only  a  single  nun  at  the 
door  when  the  Jesuit  father  entered,  in  a  very 
few  minutes  all  the  nuns  in  the  convent  knew 
that  Theresa  had  sent  for  a  Jesuit  confessor, 
and  this  trifling  breach  of  convent  etiquette  was 
talked  over  and  commented  upon  by  all  the 
sisters,  who  were  as  ready  as  boarding-school 
girls  to  gossip  over  one  another's  doings. 

Although  a  young  man,  Father  Padranos  had 
been  carefully  tra;ned  to  an  understanding  of 


^6  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

the  human  heart ;  and  he  saw  in  Theresa  infinite 
possibilities.  He  knew  the  Roman  Church  to 
be  in  great  need  at  this  time  of  enthusiastic 
adherents,  as  most  of  its  votaries  were  only- 
lukewarm  in  their  devotion;  so  he  thought  it 
best  to  treat  his  new  penitent  with  gentleness, 
and  tried  to  retain  all  her  religious  zeal.  He 
did  not  express  any  positive  opinion  about  her 
*'  Divine  favors,"  but  bade  her  undertake  more 
corporal  penance,  and  spend  more  time  medi- 
tating on  the  humanity  of  Christ.  Theresa 
learned  many  valuable  spiritual  lessons  from 
Father  Padraiios;  he  obliged  her  to  break  off 
amusements  she  had  always  believed  to  be  in- 
nocent, and  induced  her  to  lead  a  more  con- 
sistent life. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  Saint  Francis 
Borgia  came  to  Avila  and  stayed  there  a  fort- 
night. Father  Padrafios  spoke  to  him  of  The- 
resa, and  he  approved  her  spirit,  and  after  one 
or  two  interviews  with  her,  pronounced  her  *'  Di- 
vine favors  "  to  be  inspirations  from  God.  Soon 
after  this  visit  of  Saint  F'rancis  Borgia  in  Avila, 
Father  Padranos  was  removed  to  another  post, 


PERFECT  CONVERSION. 


69 


and  Theresa  had  again  to  find  a  new  confessor. 

-It   troubled    me    much,"    she   writes,    "  for   I 

thought  I  should  become   wicked   again;    and 

it  seemed  impossible  to  find  another  like  him. 

My  soul  appeared  to  be  dwelling  in  a  desert; 

so  very  sad  and  fearful  was  I,  that  I  knew  not 

what  to  do  with  myself." 

It  is  the  dependent,  human  side  of  Theresa's 

nature  which  makes  her  so  attractive  a  study. 
She  was  no  cold,   bloodless   saint,  but   a   true 

woman  in  her  longing  for  love  and  sympathy. 
After  Father  Padranos  was  removed  from  Avila, 
Theresa  left  the   convent   for   a   few  weeks  to 
visit  a  friend  who  lived  not  far  from  the  Jesuits, 
and  by  this  friend  was  persuaded  to  try  a  new 
director.      In  those   days,  a  woman   sang   the 
praises  of  her  own  particular  confessor  much  as 
her  modern  sister  sings  the  praises  of  her  special 
physician.    Dona  Guiomas  de  Ulloa  thought  no 
one  could  equal  her  soul's  physician ;    and  per- 
suaded by  her  friend,  Theresa  tried  him  as  her 
confessor.     He  advised  her  to  give  up  certain 
friendships  to  which  she  still  clung  as  the  only 
links  she  had  with  the  outside  world ;  and  against 


70  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

this  advice  Theresa  at  first  rebelled ;  "  but  one 
day,  after  I  had  prayed  a  long  time,"  she  writes, 
'*  I  fell  into  a  trance  so  suddenly  that  I  was,  as 
it  were,  carried  out  of  myself.  I  could  have  no 
doubt  of  it,  for  it  was  most  plain,  and  I  heard 
these  words,  *I  will  not  have  thee  converse 
with  men,  but  with  angels.'" 

Soon  after  this  vision,  Theresa  whites :  **  I 
have  never  been  able  to  form  friendships  with, 
nor  have  any  particular  love  for,  any  persons 
whatsoever,  except  those  who  I  believe  love 
God  and  who  strive  to  serve  him." 

When  Theresa's  new  confessor.  Father  Bal- 
thasar  Alvarez,  heard  of  this  and  other  visions 
which  Theresa  had  experienced,  he  felt  that 
he  must  watch  over  her  spiritual  life  with  great 
care.  He  was  a  sincerely  religious  man,  anxious 
in  all  things  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  good  of  the  Church ;  and  he  thought  it  best 
to  consult  several  other  priests  regarding  the 
condition  of  Theresa's  soul.  The  result  of  this 
consultation  was  the  unanimous  decision  that 
these  extraordinary  supernatural  visions  and  lo- 
cutions were  all  the  work  of  the  Devil.     The- 


4t 


PERFECT  CONVERSION.  7^ 

resa,  alarmed  at  this  decision,  put  herself  entirely 
under  the  control  of  these   priests.     They  for- 
bade  her  to  communicate  frequently,  and  told 
her  to  avoid  solitude.     One  priest  even  went  so 
far  as  to  tell  her  to  cross  herself  whenever  she 
had  a  vision,  and  to  point  her  finger  at  it  by 
way  of  scorn.      But  still   the   imaginative  girl 
continued  to  see  and  hear  all  sorts  of  extraor- 

dinary  things. 

At  one  time,  she  said,  the  Lord  appeared  to 
her  and  took  out  of  her  hand  the  cross  of  her 
rosary,  returning  it  to  her   adorned   with  four 
large  precious  stones  incomparably  more  valu- 
able than  diamonds.     The  five   wounds  of  the 
Lord  were  engraven  upon  them,  and  the  Lord 
told  her  that  "  the  cross  would  always  appear  to 
her  as  it  was  ;  and  to  no  one  but  herself  would 
it  so  appear."     Soon  after  the  occurrence  of  this 
vision,  came  what  is  known  as  the  Stigmata,  or 
the  piercing  of  her  heart  with  a  lance.     We  will 
give  this  legend  in  her  own  quaint  words :  — 

« Our  Lord  was  pleased  that  I  should  have  at  one 
time  a  vision  of  this  kind.  I  saw  an  angel  close  by 
me  on  my  left  side  in  bodily  form.     It  was  an  imagi- 


72  SAINT  THERESA   OF  A  VILA. 

nary  vision,  seen  by  the  eyes  of  the  soul."  This  I  nm 
not  accustomed  to  see,  unless  very  rarely.    Thou-^h  I 
have  visions  of  angels  frequently,  yet  I  see  them  only 
by  an  mtellectual  vision.     It  was  the  Lord's  will  that 
m  th,s  vision  I  should  see  the  angel  in  this  wise.     He 
was  not  large,  but  small  of  stature,  and  most  beautiful  • 
h.s  face  burning  as  if  he  were  one  of  the  highest  angels' 
who  seem  to  be  all  on  fire;  they  must  be  those  whom' 
we  call  cherubim.    Their  names  ^hey  never  tell  me 
but  I  see  very  well  that  there  is  in  heaven  so  great 
a  difference  between  one  angel  and  another,  and  be- 
tween  them  and  the  others,  that  I  cannot  explain  it. 
I  saw  m  his  hand  a  spear  of  gold,  and  at  the  irons 
pomt  there  seemed  to  be  a  little  fire.     He  appeared 
to  me  to  be  thrusting  it  at  times  into  my  heart,  and  to 
pierce  my  very  entrails.      When  he  drew  it  out  lie 
seemed  to  draw  them  out  also,  and  to  leave  me  all  on 
fire  with  a  great  love  of  God.     The  pain  was  so  great 
that  It  made  me  moan,  and  yet  so  surpassing  was  the 
sweetness  of  this  excessive  pain  that  I  could  not  wish  to 
be  rid  of  It.      The  pain  was  not  bodily  but  spiritual, 
though  the  body  had  its  share  of  it.    This  pain  lasted 
many  days.    During  these  days  that  this  lasted  I  went 
about  as  if  beside  myself     I  wished  to  see  and  speak 
with  no  one,  but  only  to  cherish  my  pain,  which  was 
to  me  a  greater  bliss  than  all  created   things  could 
give  me."  ^  " 


PERFECT  CONVERSION. 


n 


What  are  we  to   say  of   this  legend?     A 
nineteenth-century  historian  —  who  is  a  Jesuit, 
and  a  brother  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Coleridge 
of  England  — not  only  vouches  for  its  truth,  but 
tells  us  that  "the  wound  was   not   imaginary, 
but  real  and  material ;   and  that  the  heart  of  the 
saint  may  still  be  seen  in  Avila,  with  an  open- 
ing  on  each  side,  the  rims  of  which  are  half 
burnt."     "  Credo  quia  non  possunt "  might  well 
be  the  motto  of  the  Roman  Church. 

No  one  thought  of  doubting  the  possibility  of 
this  miracle  in  the  sixteenth  century;  scholars 
and  theologians  were  as  eager  then  to  find  super- 
natural causes  as  we  now  are  to  find  natural  ones. 
Catholic  historians  of  the  lives  of  the  saints  had 
what  Mr.  Huxley  would  call  "  a  strong  affec- 
tion" for  "proving  the  miraculous  to  be  his- 
torical ; "  they  could  not  take  a  scientific  view 
of  any  facts  which  had  a  bearing  on  religious 

sifojccts. 

After  Saint  Theresa's  most  famous  vision  — 
the  one  artists  have  delighted  to  picture  —  she 
is  described  as  going  about  her  duties  quietly, 
singing   softly  some  verses  composed  by  her- 


"•^ 


74  SAINT  THERESA   OF  A  VILA. 

self  at  the  time  she  received  the  wound  in  her 
heart. 

We  give  Coleridge's  version  of  them :  - 

"  I  felt  a  blow  within  my  inmost  heart, 
A  sudden  blow  within  this  heart  of  mine  • 
The  Hand  that  made  that  wound  was  hand  Divine 
For  m.ghty  workings  followed  from  the  smart.        ' 

"That  sudden  blow,  it  left  me  wounded  sore 
Nor  ever  have  I  known  such  utter  pain  ■ 
And  though  thereby  my  very  life  were  slain. 
Yet  from  that  death  new  life  sprang  forth  once  more. 

"  How  gives  it  life,  that  blow  that  ends  my  days  ' 
How  causeth  death,  if  life  therefrom  upboun.Is  ' 
How  doth  it  heal,  the  self-same  blow  that  wounds  - 
That  with  Itself  makes  one  the  life  it  slays  ? 

"Divine  his  Hand,  of  strength  beyond  compare. 
Even  m  the  bitterest  struggle  of  our  life 
He  cleaves  in  triumph  through  the  surgin"  strife 
And  works  the  works  of  might  which  show  him  there  » 


\ 


PETER  OF  ALCANTARA. 


75 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PETER  OF  ALCANTARA. 

AFTER  the  surprising  visions  recorded  in  the  last 
chapter,   Theresa  made  a  vow   which  Cathohc 
historians  insist  that  she  kept  most   fa.thfuly. 
This  vow  was  nothing  less  than  to  seek  in  her 
conduct  "  absolute   perfection."      It  was  early 
in  the  year  1560  that  this  vow  was  made,  and 
later  in  the   same   year  Theresa   met  that   ex- 
traordinary man  and  saint,  Peter  of  Alcantara. 
The  account  left  us  of  his  life  is  so  remarkable, 
and   his  influence  over  Theresa  was  so  great, 
that  we  must  give  at  least  a  brief  sketch  of  h.s 
life  and  work.     Saint  Peter  was  born  m  Alcan- 
tarij,  a  small  Spanish  town,  in  I499;  so  that  he 
was  sixteen  years  the  senior  of  Theresa.     H.s 
father  was  governor  of  the  town,  and  his  mother 
came  of  a  good  family.     He  studied  law  at  the 
University   of  Salamanca,   but   after  remammg 


76  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

there  two  years,  returned  to  Alcantara,  having 
made  up  his  mind  to  adopt  the  rchgious   Hfe"] 
and  enter  the  order  of  St.  Francis.     During  his 
novitiate   he  labored  sedulously  to  crucify   the 
flesh;  he  never  lifted  his  eyes  from  the  ground, 
and  was  ignorant  whether  his  cell  was  ceiled  or 
had  bare  rafters.     For  half  a  year  he  had  charge 
of  the   refectory,   and  — as   we   must   think  — 
selfishly  permitted  his  brethren  to   go  without 
apples  and  pomegranates,  because  he  would  not 
lift  his  eyes  to  the  trees  to  see  whether  there 
were  any  ripe  for  the  table. 

So  self-absorbed  was  this  saint,  that  he  did 
not  even  know  by  sight  one  of  the  friars  with 
whom   he   lived   for  years.      He  had  no  other 
bed  than  a  skin  laid  on  the  floor,  and  he  wore 
only  one  serge  habit,  and  absolutely  no  other 
clothes.     One  day  a  visitor  came  to  see  him, 
and    was    told    he   was   in    the    garden.      The 
stranger  sought   him   there,   and   was  shocked 
and   abashed  to  find  him   stark  naked.      Saint 
Peter  asked  what  was  wanted,  and   the   visitor 
replied,  "  Excuse  me,  I  hardly  expected  to  find 
you    in    a   condition    scarcely   decent."      '*  Do 


PETER  OF  ALCANTARA, 


77 


not  blame  me,  but  the  Gospel,"  answered  Saint 
Peter,  **  that  commands  us  to  possess  but  one 
coat.  I  have  got  absolutely  nothing  but  one 
tunic,  and  while  it  is  being  washed,  and  dried 
in  the  sun,  as  you  see  it  yonder,  I  am  obliged 
to  go  stark  naked." 

The  reputation  of  Saint  Peter  having  reached 
the  ears  of  John  III,  King  of  Portugal,  that 
prince  sent  for  Peter  to  visit  him,  and  he  was 
chosen  Provincial  or  Director  of  the  Province 
of  Estramadura,  in  1538.  In  1541  he  went  to 
Lisbon,  to  join  Father  Martin  in  introducing 
a  reform  into  the  Franciscan  order.  A  her- 
mitage was  built  on  the  hill  of  Arabida,  where 
the  hermits  wore  nothing  on  their  feet,  lay  on 
fagots  and  vine-twigs,  never  ate  flesh  or  drank 
wine,  and  took  fish  only  at  festivals.  In  fact, 
they  vied  with  one  another  in  trying  to  be 
uncomfortable,  and  in  thwarting  the  ordinary 
needs  of  the  body. 

An  extravagantly  ascetic  life,  like  that  led 
by  Saint  Peter  of  Alcantara,  was  just  the  kind 
of  an  example  to  arouse  the  admiration  of 
an  imaginative,   intense    nature   like  Theresa's. 


li 


78 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


Here  at  last  she  found  consistency;  here  was 
a  true  hero,  worthy  her  ardent  worship  and 
careful  imitation.  In  due  time  Peter  came  to 
visit  Avila.  He  is  described  as  being  **  a  man 
of  sikty,  slender,  graceful,  and  strongly  built, 
a  man  of  extreme  modesty  and  wonderful  hu- 
mility." During  his  stay  in  Avila,  Theresa  had 
several  meetings  with  him.  She  confided  to 
him  her  spiritual  difficulties,  and  received  from 
him  much  excellent  advice.  It  is  probable 
that  he  suggested  to  her  the  work  to  which 
she  devoted  her  last  years.  When  this  fanatical 
old  man  left  Avila,  he  made  Theresa  promise 
to  write  to  him ;  and  she  continued  in  cor- 
respondence with  him  until  his  death.  After 
his  earthly  tabernacle  —  reduced  almost  to  a 
skeleton  —  had  returned  to  dust,  Theresa  wrote 
the  following  description  of  him :  — 

"He  told  me  that  for  forty  years  he  slept  but  an 
hour  and  a  half  out  of  every  twenty-four,  and  that  the 
most  laborious  penance  he  underwent  was  this  of 
overcoming  sleep.  For  that  purpose  he  was  always 
either  kneeling  or  standing.  When  he  slept,  he  sat 
down,  his  head  resting  against  a  piece  of  wood  driven 
into  the  wall.     To  lie  down  was  impossible  in  his  cell, 


PETER   OF  ALCANTARA. 


79 


for  every  one  knows  it  was  only  four  feet  and  a  half 
^  in  length.  In  all  these  years  he  never  covered  his 
head  with  his  hood,  even  when  the  sun  was  hottest  or 
the  rain  heaviest.  ...  His  ordinary  practice  was  to 
eat  but  once  in  three  days.  He  said  to  me,  'Why 
are  you  astonished  at  it  ?  It  is  very  possible  for  any 
one  who  is  used  to  it.'     For  many  years  he  never  saw 

a  woman's  face.      He  told  me  it  was  nothing  to  him 

-J 

whether  he  saw  it  or  not.  When  I  saw  him,  he  was 
an  aged  man,  and  his  weakness  was  so  great  that  he 
seemed  like  nothing  else  but  the  roots  of  trees.  With 
all  his  sanctity  he  was  very  agreeable,  though  his  words 
were  few,  except  when  he  was  asked  questions." 

The  visit  of  Peter  in  Avila  was  a  great  en- 
couragement to  Theresa,  for  he  defended  her 
from  the  spiteful  criticism  of  her  sister-nuns,  and 
partly  stopped  the  harsh  treatment  to  which  her 
confessors  had  subjected  her. 

It  was  at  the  request  of  Peter  of  Alcantara 
that  Theresa  wrote  out  a  statement  of  her 
manner  of  prayer,  and  an  account  of  her 
visions.  This  work,  although  one  of  the  curi- 
osities of  religious  literature  to  the  student,  is 
not  of  enough  general  interest  to  give  much 
time  to   here.      It  was   undoubtedly  sincere  in 


80 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


purpose,  and  occasionally  its  language  rises  into 
pure  and  beautiful  rhetoric;  but  in  all  proba- 
bility it  was  written  under  intense  and  mor- 
bid spiritual  excitement;  so  that  to  attempt  to 
fathom  or  explain  its  mysteries  to-day  would 
not  be  feasible. 

Soon  after  Peter  of  Alcantara's  visit  to  Avila, 
Theresa  became  much  depressed.     She  was  al- 
ways, we  must  remember,  either  unduly  exalted 
or  unduly   cast   down.     Now  even  her  visions 
assumed  a  new  and  strange  form.     No  longer 
did  she  receive  special  favors  from  Christ,  but 
she  seemed   to   be   delivered   over   bodily  into 
the  power  of  Satan.     One  day  while  she  was 
in  her   oratory  the   Devil    appeared  to  her   in 
abominable  shape  at  her  left  hand.     ''  I  looked 
at  his  mouth  in  particular,  because  he  spoke, 
and  it  was  horrible.     A  huge  flame  seemed  to 
issue  out   of  his    body,    perfectly  bright,  with- 
out any  shadow.     He  spoke  in   a  fearful  way, 
and  said  to  me  that  though  T  had  escaped  out 
of  his   hands,   he   would    yet   lay   hold    of  me 


agam. 


»» 


At  another  time  she  records :   **  I  saw  close 


PETER   OF  ALCANTARA. 


8l 


beside  me  a  most  frightful  little  negro,  gnash- 
ing his  teeth  in  despair  at  losing  what  he  at- 
tempted to  seize." 

In  the  light  of  modern  psychological  investi- 
gations, what  are   we  to  think  of  these   state- 
ments ?     We  must   recollect  all  the  conditions 
which  surrounded  our  saint;  that  the  Zeit-Geist 
inclined  one  to  be  constantly  expectant  of  super- 
natural occurrences ;  and  then  we  must  take  into 
consideration  Theresa's   own  imaginative  mind 
and  diseased  bodily  condition ;  she  was  never  a 
robust  woman,  and  her  nervous  organization  was 
super-sensitive.     With  these  facts  to  direct  our 
investigations,  we  may  And  that  Theresa's  fa- 
•  mous  visions  appear  less  mysterious.     Modern 
writers  class  them  all  in  the  great  category  of 
mental   hallucinations;    but  the  new   definition 
does  not  bring  us  much  nearer  the  truth  than 
the  old.      The  various  vagaries  of  the  human 
mind  are  as  inexplicable  to-day   as  they  were 
four  centuries  ago ;   and  the  wisest  of  physicians 
and   philosophers   stand   aside  abashed   at   the 
wide  chasm  which  still  separates  "  gray  matter" 
and  thought. 


82  SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVI  LA, 


PETER  OF  ALCANTARA, 


83 


Theresa  found  little  comfort  in  prayer  while 
she  was  troubled  with  these  distressing  visions ; 
her  mental  condition  was  anything  but  peace- 
ful, and  she  longed  for  a  more  active  objective 

Hfe. 

''  The  inward  stirrings  of  my  love,"  said  she, 
**  urge  me  to  rise  and  do  something  for  the 
service  of  God;  and  I  am  not  able  to  do 
more  than  adorn  pictures  with  boughs  and 
flowers,  clean  or  arrange  an  oratory,  or  some 
other    trifling   act,   so   that   I    am  ashamed    of 

myself." 

Theresa,  at  the  age  of  forty,  with  an  energy 
which  in  the  nineteenth  century   would  surely 
have  led  her  to  adopt  a  professional  or  active 
philanthropic  life,  was  tied  down  to  a  daily  rou- 
tine of  trifling  duties  which  were  both  tiresome 
and  unsatisfying.    After  twenty  years  of  convent 
life  she  found  herself  as  far  as  ever  from   in 
ward    peace.     No  sooner  was  her  heart  swept 
clean  of  one  devil  of  discontent  than  it   took 
unto  itself  seven  other  spirits  yet  more  wicked, 
and  the  last  state  of  that  heart  was  worse  than 
the  first. 


I 


There  is  much  in  Theresa's  nervous,  over- 
wrought mental  condition  which  calls  forth  our 
pity ;  but  her  confessors  also  have  need  of  our 
sympathy,  for  she  was  utterly  unreasonable  in 
her  demands  upon  them,  and  changed  from  one 
to  another  on  the  slightest  pretext.  She  was  full 
of  whimsical  complaints  against  her  sister  nuns, 
and  was  anything  but  an  agreeable  inmate  of 
the  Incarnation.  She  found  no  comfort  in  her 
friends,  since  she  says  **  to  converse  with  any 
one  is  worse ;  for  the  Devil  sends  me  so  offensive 
a  spirit  of  bad  temper,  that  I  think  I  could  eat 
people  up.  I  feel  that  I  do  something  if  I 
keep  myself  under  control." 

This  intense  physical  nervousness  and  irrita- 
bility made  Theresa's  life  a  burden  to  herself 
and  to  her  friends.  At  one  time  she  thought 
of  leaving  the  convent  and  going  to  another 
monastery,  in  which  enclosure  was  more  strictly 
observed,  thinking  it  would  be  a  great  consola- 
tion to  her  to  live  where  she  was  not  known ; 
but  her  superiors  would  not  let  her  go. 

At  this  time  the  Convent  of  the  Incarnation 
had  grown  so   poor  that  the  sisters  sometimes 


84 


SAINT  THERESA   OF  AVI  LA. 


did  not  have  enough   to   eat.      Many   wealthy 
persons   were   in  the   habit  of  scndjng  for   the 
nuns  to  visit  them,  and  the  superior  of  the  con- 
vent had  pohtic  reasons  for  insisting  that  these 
invitations  should  be  accepted.     Theresa  writes 
complainingly  of  "  this  inconvenience  of  going 
out."     She  could  not  go  into  the  world  for  even 
a  brief  time  without  forgetting  her  good  reso- 
lutions and  turning  away  from  God.     But  this 
long   period  of  mental  and   bodily  misery  was 
near  its  end,  and  a  new  life  was  about  to  open 
which  should  put  into  active  use  all  Theresa's 
dormant  energies. 

'*  Even  in  a  palace,"  wrote  Marcus  Aurclius, 
**  life  can  be  lived  well ;  "  so  even  in  a  convent 
a  woman's  will  can  break  the  fetters  which  bind 
her  in,  and  push  out  into  the  world  of  action, 
if  her  purpose  —  that  is,  her  faith  —  be  only 
strong  enough  not  to  be  shaken  by  obstacles 
which  at  first  sight  seem  insurmountable. 


PLANS  HER  REFORM. 


85 


CHAPTER   VII. 


THERESA  PLANS   HER  REFORM. 


Little  is  said;  in  Theresa's  autobiography,  re- 
garding her  daily  life  at  the  Incarnation  Con- 
vent. She  alludes  very  rarely  to  any  of  the 
sisters  individually.  Her  friendship  with  Juano 
Suarez  continued,  and  in  1560  she  mentions 
taking  a  young  niece  under  her  charge.  We 
are  told  by  several  historians  that  this  niece, 
Maria  de  Okampo,  was  the  first  to  suggest  the 
great  Carmelite  reform.  But  from  our  study  of 
Theresa's  life  and  the  strong  influence  which 
Peter  of  Alcantara  held  over  her,  we  are  in- 
clined to  think  the  project  arose  at  the  time 
this  saint  made  his  visit  in  Avila.  It  must  have 
been  the  example  of  the  devoted  Peter  which 
first  put  this  plan  into  Theresa's  head  ;  although 
the  seed  was  deeply  implanted  in  the  ground  a 
long  time  before  it  showed  any  signs  of  life. 


86 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


Most  Spanish  writers,  however,  give  the  fol- 
lowing account  of  the  beginnings  of  the  reform. 
Maria  de  Okampo,  a  girl  of  sixteen  or  seventeen, 
more  remarkable  for  her  love  of  finery  than  for 
her  piety,  was  spending  the  afternoon  of  a  cer- 
tain feast-day  in  her  aunt's  cell.    Quite  a  number 
of  nuns  were  gathered  there,  and,  paradoxical  as 
it  may  seem,  this  social  group  fell  to  discussing 
the  joys  of  solitude.     They  discussed  the  diffi- 
culties   of  leading    a    strict    religious   life  in  a 
convent  as  large  as  that  of  the  Incarnation;  and 
the  young  Maria  de  Okampo  said,  with  an  air  of 
great  seriousness,  "  Let  us  all  go  and  live  in  soli- 
tude like  hermits."     This  new  idea  was  eagerly 
caught  up  by  all  present,  and  some  cousins  of 
Theresa— Maria  Eleanora,  Inez,  and  Anna  de 
Tapia  — began  on  the  spot,  with  Juafto  Suarez, 
to  talk  over  the  feasibility  of  the  plan.     Theresa 
is  said  to  have  been  delighted  with  it,  and  to  have 
mentioned  the  conversation  to  her  friend,  Guio- 
mas  de  Ulloa,  saying :  "  What  do  you  think  these 
girls  have  been  talking  about  ?     Nothing  less 
than  of  founding  a  little  convent  where  we  might 
all  go  and  live  like  Barefooted  Franciscans." 


PLANS  HER  REFORM. 


87 


Now,  Maria  de  Okampo  was  wealthy,  and  at 
once  offered  a  thousand  ducats  of  her  fortune  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  undertaking.  But  is 
it  not  reasonable  to  suspect  the  restless,  ener- 
getic Theresa  of  having  proposed  the  scheme 
to  her  at  some  other  time?  Without  the  assist- 
ance of  Maria's  purse,  Theresa  could  have  done 
nothing. 

Doiia  Guiomas,  always  a  devoted  friend  of 
Theresa,  interested  herself  warmly  in  the  new 
project.  Angel  visitors  took  the  place  of  The- 
resa's **  blue  devils,"  and  assured  her  that  **  the 
monastery  would  certainly  be  built,  and  that 
Saint  Joseph  would  keep  guard  at  one  door 
and  Our  Lady  at  the  other,  and  that  it  would 
become  a  star  shining  in  great  splendor." 

Encouraged  by  this  agreeable  vision,  Theresa 
wrote  to  Father  Balthasar  Alvarez;  but  he 
thought  the  scheme  absurd,  and  although  he 
did  not  actually  forbid  it,  refused  to  aid  it  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  Provincial,  or  director, 
of  the  Carmelites.  The  Provincial,  by  name 
P^ather  Angelo,  knew  that  reforms  had  been 
accomplished   in  other  orders,  and  was    rather 


88 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVI  LA. 


pleased  at  the  thought  of  a  Reform  among  the 
Carmehtes  also,  and  Peter  of  Alcantara,  still  alive, 
also  wrote  Theresa  a  letter  congratulating  her 
on  her  plans.     On  the  whole,  the  scheme  met 
with  more  favor  than  had  been  expected.      Of 
course,   there    were    fault-finders.      Was   there 
ever  any  kind  of  new  reform  instituted,  without 
much  adverse  criticism  ?    All  the  good  people 
who   had    feared    that   Theresa's   visions    came 
from    Satan   were    ready   to    carp    at   the    new 
movement.      The    idle,   gossipy    folk   in   Avila 
expressed  themselves  as  scandalized  with  these 
new-fangled    notions.      Why   was   not   Theresa 
satisfied  to  remain  in  her  own  convent?     Who 
was  she,   that   she  should   think   herself  fit   to 
reform   a  whole   order   like   that   of  the    Car- 
mehtes?    Some  of  the  priests  were   indignant 
enough  that  a  woman  should  even  make  such 
a  suggestion.      One  priest  refused  Dona  Guio- 
mas    de   Ulloa    absolution    on    Christmas    Day 
unless  she  would  promise  to  have  nothing  to  do 
with  the  plan.     When  it  was  learned  that  the 
Provincial  actually  looked  with  approval  on  the 
proposed    Reform,  the  whole  city  rose  up   in 


PLANS  HER  REFORM. 


89 


opposition.  For  women  to  undertake  outside 
work  in  those  days  seemed  preposterous;  they 
were  looked  upon  as  unfit  for  any  serious  oc- 
cupations. In  the  face  of  this  strong  public 
opinion,  Father  Angelo,  who  must  have  been 
rather  a  weak  brother,  withdrew  his  permission, 
and  Theresa  received  a  command  from  Father 
Balthasar  ''  not  to  occupy  herself  any  further 
with  the  business." 

The  decision  of  the  Provincial  caused  the 
little  band  of  radicals  great  grief.  It  was  a 
severe  trial  to  be  forced  to  give  up  their  plan, 
and  it  was  not  easy  to  continue  life  in  the  In- 
carnation Convent  among  the  same  sisters  whose 
rules  they  had  publicly  condemned.  The  ab- 
bess was  very  angry  with  Theresa  for  stirring 
up  so  much  commotion,  and  even  her  confessor 
^  blamed  her  severely.  Some  strength  of  char- 
acter was  necessary  to  persist  in  the  new  re- 
form. This  strength  of  character  Theresa  had ; 
and  it  was  her  own  cheerful  courage  which  kept 
alive  her  companions'  superficial  interest.  Dona 
Guiomas  and  Father  Ybanez  had  taken  up  her 
side    devotedly,  and    had   written   to    Rome  to 


90 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


obtain  the  necessary  permission  from  the  Holy 
See.     Six  months  were  spent  in  waiting  patiently 
for  this   permission.      Theresa  was   laughed    at 
and  persecuted  by  all  the  sisters  within  the  con- 
vent, and  outside,  in  Avila,  had  many  enemies. 
Once  when  she  went  into  the  town  to  church 
the  preacher  directed  his  sermon  at  her,  point- 
ing  her  out  as    a    foolish,    restless  nun.      The 
arrival    of  a    new    rector  at  the  House    of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  in  Avila  made  the  prospects 
of  those  engaged  in  the  Reform  look  brighter, 
for  he   advised  her  confessors   not  to  discour- 
age her  plans.     He  even  expressed  confidence 
enoudi    in   the  Reform    to   advise    Theresa   to 
begin  to  collect  funds.     A  suitable  house  was 
the  first  thing  to  be   thought  of,   as  Theresa's 
niece  had  already  given  enough  money  to  pay 
for  it.     When  one  was   found,  Theresa   begged 
her  sister  Juafio  to  come  to  Avila  and   make 
the  purchase  as  if  for  herself.     After  Juano's 
arrival,  Theresa  obtained  leave  to  spend  much 
time  with  her  sister ;   and  thus  in  strict  secrecy 
the  property  was  changed  into  a  convent. 
Many  legends  have  been  handed  down  to  us, 


PLANS  HER  REFORM. 


91 


describing  events  which  are  said  to  have  hap- 
pened during  the  early  days  of  the  Reform. 
Theresa  tells  us  that  she  was  visited  by  every 
saint  in  the  calendar,  and  told  to  continue  her 
work;  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  came,  and,  in 
token  of  her  approval,  hung  around  her  neck  an 
invisible  collar  of  gold.  But  in  spite  of  all  these 
signs  of  approbation  given  her  by  supernatural 
authorities,  for  a  long  time  no  news  arrived 
from  Rome.  As  the  improvements  made  on 
the  house  progressed,  there  was  great  danger 
lest  Theresa's  secret  would  be  detected,  and 
that  people  would  begin  to  suspect  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  designed. 

It  has  already  been  said  that  the  lax  rules 
of  the  Incarnation  Convent  permitted  frequent 
and  long  absences  on  the  part  of  the  nuns. 
Now  Theresa,  what  with  her  various  visions  and 
ambitious  projects,  had  obtained  a  reputation 
throughout  all  Spain  for  her  sanctity,  and  was 
much  in  request  to  comfort  noble  families  in 
times  of  affliction.  A  certain  lady  of  high 
rank.  Dona  Luisa  de  la  Cerda,  of  Toledo,  over- 
whelmed with  grief  at  her  husband's  death,  sent 


92  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

to  the  convent  for  Theresa  to  come  and  com- 
fort her  in  her  affliction.     Father  Angelo  wrote 
to  Theresa  telHng  her  that  she  could  not  refuse 
the   invitation   of  a  lady  in  such  a  high  posi- 
tion.    But   at   this   time    all   Theresas    interest 
was  centred  in  her  new  enterprise,  and  she  was 
very  reluctant  to  leave  Avila ;   her  friends,  how- 
ever, agreed  that  it  was  her  duty  to  go  to  Dona 
Luisa,  and   she  finally  started  on  her  journey 
to  Toledo,  escorted  by   her  excellent  brother- 
in-law.     Just  before  her  departure,  her  brother 
Lorenzo  sent  her  from  South  America  a  con- 
siderable  sum   of  money  to   aid  her  new  Re- 
form. 

The  visit  to  Toledo  was  much  more  agreeable 
than  Theresa  anticipated.  She  was  received 
with  great  warmth,  and  under  her  gentle  min- 
istrations Dona  Luisa  soon  regained  her  peace 
of  mind.  Theresas  personal  influence  was 
always  wonderful ;  she  could  find  her  way  by 
sympathy  into  the  hearts  of  young  and  old. 
The  whole  of  Dona  Luisa's  household  soon 
grew  to  look  upon  this  saintly  nun,  who  had 
succeeded  in  soothing  their   mistress's  sorrow, 


PLANS  HER  REFORM. 


93 


with  the  profoundest  veneration.  It  is  reported 
that  many  used  to  gather  around  her  door  to 
watch  her  at  her  prayers,  and  that  several  were 
so  struck  with  her  piety  that  they  expressed  a 
desire  to  renounce  the  world. 

The  mansion  owned  by  Dona  Luisa  was  a 
large  and  spacious  one;  it  was  more  like  a 
palace  than  an  ordinary  dwelling.  The  life  led 
by  most  of  its  inmates  was  a  life  of  fashion  and 
frivolity.  Late  hours  were  kept,  there  was  much 
feasting  done,  and  money  was  thrown  away  on 
every  kind  of  needless  luxury.  Had  Theresa 
been  younger,  her  impressionable  nature  would 
surely  have  been  fascinated  by  the  glitter  and 
gayety  of  the  new  life  which  now  opened  to 
her.  But  she  was  now  over  forty,  and  the  things 
of  this  world  had  ceased  to  attract  her.  "  The 
more  I  saw,"  she  wrote,  "  the  greater  my  con- 
tempt. I  saw  that  Dona  Luisa,  with  all  her  high 
position,  was  a  woman,  and  as  much  liable  to 
passion  and  weakness  as  I  was ;  that  rank  is  of 
little  worth,  and  that  the  higher  it  is  the  greater 
the  anxiety  and  trouble  it  brings.  People  must 
be  careful  of  the  dignity  of  their  state,  which  will 


94 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


not  suffer  them  to  live  at  ease ;  they  must  eat  at 
fixed  hours  and  by  rule,  for  everything  must  be 
according  to  their  state  and  not  according  to 
their  constitution ;  and  they  have  frequently  to 
take  food  fitted  more  for  their  state  than  for 
their  liking.  So  I  soon  came  to  hate  the  very 
wish  to  be  a  great  lady.  God  deliver  me  from 
this  wicked,  artificial  life !  Though  I  believe 
that  this  lady,  notwithstanding  that  she  was  one 
of  the  chief  personages  of  the  realm,  was  a 
woman  of  great  simplicity,  and  that  few  were 
more  humble  than  she  was.  I  was  very  sorry 
for  her,  and  I  saw  how  often  she  had  to  submit 
to  much  that  was  disagreeable  to  her,  because 
of  the  requirements  of  her  rank.  Then,  as  to 
servants;  though  the  lady  had  very  good  ser- 
vants, yet  how  slight  is  the  trust  that  may 
be  put  in  them.  One  must  not  be  conversed 
with  more  than  another;  otherwise  he  who  is 
so  favored  is  envied  by  the  rest.  This  in  itself 
is  slavery ;  and  one  of  the  lies  of  the  world  is 
that  it  calls  such  persons  masters,  who,  in  my 
opinion,  are  nothing  else  but  slaves  in  a  thou- 
sand ways." 


PLANS  HER  REFORM. 


95 


As  we  read  Theresa's  reflections  upon  the 
ceremonies  and  etiquette  observed  in  Doiia 
Luisa's  house,  we  can  see  that  she  sincerely 
despised  them.  The  one  wish  of  her  soul  was 
that  she  might  carry  out  her  new  Reformation. 

During  the  six  months  she  spent  in  Toledo, 
Theresa  made  the  acquaintance  of  another  fa- 
mous nun,  named  Maria  de  Jesus.  She  was  a 
lady  of  rank  and  fashion,  who  had  married  at 
an  early  age  and  been  left  a  widow.  She  then 
became  a  novice  in  the  Carmelite  convent  of 
her  native  place.  The  immense  number  of 
the  nuns  and  the  Relaxed  Rule  displeased  her; 
and,  encouraged  by  her  confessor,  she  deter- 
mined to  appeal  to  the  Pope  and  get  permis- 
sion to  reform  the  order.  She  made  a  journey 
to  Rome  barefoot;  and  the  Pope,  looking  at 
her  bleeding  feet,  said  to  her,  '*  Woman  of 
strong  courage,  be  it  to  thee  as  thou  wilt." 
Sister  Maria  then  returned  from  Rome  and 
founded  a  convent  at  Alcala.  The  little  group 
of  women  who  lived  with  her  kept  what  is 
known  as  the  Primitive  Rule,  and  from  them 
Theresa  learned  much  about   the  practical  ar- 


96 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


rangements  she  must  make  before  she  could 
carry  out  her  reform.  Another  matter  ^hich 
kept  Theresa  busy  in  Toledo  was  her  auto- 
biography. She  had  been  asked  to  write  it 
by  Father  Ybanez,  and  she  finished  it  in  June, 
1562. 


SECRET  REMOVAL  TO  ST.  JOSEPH'S,        97 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


THE   SECRET   REMOVAL  TO   ST.   JOSEPH'S. 

Theresa  left  Toledo  soon  after  she  finished 
her  autobiography,  and  on  arriving  at  Avila 
found  that  the  long-expected  brief  had  arrived. 
It  was  dated  in  February,  1562,  and  gave  The- 
resa permission  to  proceed  with  her  work,  plac- 
ing the  new  monastery  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  bishop,  instead  of  the  Carmelite  superior. 
The  inmates  of  the  new  convent  had  already 
been  selected  with  great  care,  for  all  interested 
in  the  reform  felt  that  on  their  character  and 
devotion  largely  depended  the  success  of  the 
new  foundation.  There  were  to  be  twelve  in- 
mates in  St.  Joseph's  Convent,  but  at  first 
Theresa  began  with  only  four  besides  her- 
self. It  was  of  the  greatest  importance 
that  these  four  should  be  one  in  spirit  and 
enthusiasm. 

7 


98 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


The    name    of  one    of    these    chosen    sisters 
was   Antonia   of  the    Holy   Ghost.       She   had 
been  suggested  by  Peter  of  Alcantara,  and  had 
been  from  her  youth  a  model  child ;    it  was  said 
that   when   only   seven  years   old   she  had    re- 
ceived a  Divine  intimation  of  her  calling.     The 
second  of  the  four  sisters,  Ursula  of  the  Saints, 
was  made  of  quite  different  material.     She  had 
always  been  fond  of  gayety,  and  in  her  youth, 
balls  and  bull-fights  had  been  her  delight.     Her 
conversion  had  been  sudden,  and  was  the  work 
of  Master  Caspar  Daga,  who  was  a  long  time 
inducing  her  to  take  the  veil.     The  other  two 
sisters  who  accompanied  Theresa  were  the  two 
Marys,  —  Mary  of  the  Cross  and  Mary  of  St. 

Joseph's. 

The  habit  worn  by  these  Discalced  Carmel- 
ites was  made  of  rough  white  serge;  their  veils, 
were  coarse  unbleached  linen,  and  their  feet 
were  bare.  The  house  which  had  been  pur- 
chased and  secretly  prepared  for  them  was 
small,  but  large  enough  to  include  a  tiny 
chapel.  A  narrow  corridor  led  from  the  nuns' 
apartments  to  this  chapel,  and  over  the  doors 


SECRET  REMOVAL  TO  ST.  JOSEPH'S. 


99 


and  at  either  end  were  placed  images  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  and  Saint  Joseph.  A  little  bell, 
only  three  pounds  in  weight,  was  hung  in  a 
hollow  of  the  wall  to  summon  the  community 
to  Mass.  The  simplicity  and  poverty  of  the 
new  convent  were  extreme.  The  sisters  were 
forbidden  to  have  any  ornaments  in  their  cells, 
and  the  strictest  rules  were  to  be  followed  about 
fasting  and  prayer. 

The  new  monastery  was  opened,  Aug.  24, 
1562,  Mass  being  said  by  Caspar  Daga.  All 
this  was  done  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  and  even 
the  prioress  of  the  Incarnation  knew  nothing  of 
the  undertaking  until  the  first  ceremonies  were 
over. 

Theresa  ''  felt  as  it  were  in  bliss,"  to  see  her 
cherished  dream  fulfilled,  and  her  new  work 
begun;  but  hardly  had  her  first  day  in  the 
little  convent  come  to  an  end,  when  the  angry 
prioress  of  the  Incarnation,  indignant  at  all  these 
secret  proceedings,  sent  for  the  chief  trans- 
gressor to  return  to  her  old  convent  immedi- 
ately. Both  the  prioress  and  the  Provincial 
were   bitterly   opposed  to   this  "setting  up   of 


lOO         SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

novelties."  The  city  of  Avila  professed  itself 
to  be  scandalized,  and  ''the  outcry  was  very 
great  against  the  four  orphans  who  had  dared 
to  make  a  religious  home  for  themselves,  where 
they  could  serve  God,  as  they  believed,  more 

faithfully." 

When  the  Provincial  and  the  prioress  heard 
that  the  little  band  of  sisters  had  a  brief  from 
the  Pope,  they  **  softened  a  little,"  but  it  was 
four  months  before  Theresa  was  permitted  to 
return  to  her  new  home.  *'  To  relate  in  detail 
the  heavy  trials  we  passed  through  would  be 
tedious,"  Theresa  writes.  ''  I  wondered  at  what 
Satan  did  against  a  few  poor  women,  and  also 
how  people  thought  we  could  be  so  hurtful  to 

the  city." 

Theresa  had  created  a  revolution  on  a  small 
scale;  she  had  planned  and  carried  out  an  un- 
heard-of undertaking,  and  emancipated  herself 
from  the  authorities  of  the  Incarnation  Convent 
forever.  Was  it  strange  that  her  doings  caused 
scandal,  and  that  she  became  a  ''  nine  days' 
wonder"  in  the  city?  When  permitted  to  re- 
turn to  her  new  convent,  she    found  that  her 


SECRET  REMOVAL  TO  ST.  JOSEPH'S,       lOI 


four  associates  had  gone  on  patiently  singing 
and  praying,  and  had  striven  zealously  to  keep 
up  the  severe  rules  they  had  worked  so  hard 
to  formulate. 

Theresa  had  added  many  mortifications  to 
those  prescribed  by  the  original  Carmelite  Rule. 
There  was  to  be  perpetual  abstinence  from  meat, 
rigorous  silence  and  retirement,  and  a  fast  of 
eight  months  every  year.  The  sisters  were 
obliged  to  sleep  upon  sacks  of  straw,  and  for 
dinner  had  only  coarse  bread  and  vegetables. 
Matins  were  recited  in  the  choir  three  hours 
before  midnight,  because,  we  read  in  the  tra- 
ditions, "  At  that  hour  no  other  religious  insti- 
tution is  offering  praise  to  God." 

Great  joy  was  felt  in  the  convent  at  Theresa's 
return  ;  four  new  novices  soon  joined  the  com- 
munity, one  of  them  being  Maria  de  Okampo, 
who  had  already  given  much,  and  now  gave 
all  her  fortune,  to  aid  her  aunt  in  her  work. 
Another  of  Theresa's  relatives  to  enter  St. 
Joseph's  was  Doiia  Maria  de  Aulas,  the  only 
daughter  of  a  certain  nobleman,  Alonzo  Avarez, 
who  had  all  his  life  won  respect  for  his   great 


I02 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


piety.      This  girl,   heiress   to   a   large    fortune, 
was  exceedingly  proud ;   she  had  refused,  with  ' 
haughty  disdain,  many  brilliant  alliances,  and  it 
vvas^'only  after  a  severe   interior    struggle   that 
she   made  up  her  mind  to  enter  St.  Joseph's, 
and    give   herself  up   to   a   religious   life.     She 
arrived   at  the   convent   dressed    in   her  richest 
robes,  which  glittered  with    golden    ornaments 
and  precious  stones ;  but  when  she  had  been  re- 
ceived in  the  choir  and  had  put  on  the  simple 
Carmelite   garb,  "  a  flood  of  peace"  is  said  -  to 
have  come  over  her  soul." 

The  rule  which  was  observed  at  St.  Joseph's 
was  known  as  the  "  Primitive  Rule  of  the  order 
of  Mount  Carmel ;  "  it  had  been  drawn  up  by 
Saint  Albert,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  in    1205. 
This  rule  had  been  modified  by  Eugenius  IV. ; 
and  it  was  the  mitigation  of  the  rule  of  Saint 
Albert  that  obtained  in  the  Convent  of  the  In- 
carnation.    The  original  rule  had  ordered  that 
the  religious  should  fast  from  the  feast  ot  the 
Exaltation  of  the  Holy  Cross  (September  14) 
to  the  feast  of  Easter.     The  Mitigation  allowed 
this  fast  to  be  omitted  except  on  Wednesdays, 


SECRET  REMOVAL    TO  ST.  JOSEPH'S.     K  ^ 


Fridays,  and  Saturdays.  The  rule  established 
by  Theresa,  however,  was  strict  as  to  the  obser- 
vance of  fasting  and  abstinence.  The  rule  as 
to  prayer  was :  Matins  recited  at  nine  in  the 
evening;  after  this  a  quarter  of  an  hour  given  to 
an  examination  of  the  actions  of  the  day ;  then 
the  religious  read  over  the  points  of  the  mys- 
tery on  which  they  were  to  meditate  the  next 
morning.  At  eleven  o'clock  the  bell  rang,  and 
they  went  to  rest.  In  summer,  the  nuns  rose  at 
five,  and  meditated  until  six.  In  winter,  they 
rose  at  six,  and  meditated  until  seven.  The 
Hours  were  said  before  Mass.  The  time  ar- 
ranged to  be  spent  in  work  was  occupied  in 
simple  spinning,  instead  of  the  elaborate  em- 
broidery which  occupied  the  attention  of  the 
sisters  at  the  Incarnation.  One  strange  rule 
laid  down  by  Theresa  was,  that  no  religious  was 
to  have  a  fixed  amount  of  work  given  to  her, 
lest  she  should  give  herself  to  it  with  excessive 
ardor.  The  sisters  were  obliged  to  work  alone, ' 
instead  of  in  one  common  room.  Dinner  was 
of  course  early,  and  a  little  before  dinner  a  bell 
rang  for  self-examination.     Vespers  were  said  at 


^04  SAINT  THERESA   OF  AVILA. 

two  o'clock,  and  afterwards  an  hour  was  given 
to  spiritual  reading;  at  three  o'clock  came  an- 
other hour  of  prayer,  and  then  a  brief  period 
of  recreation. 

The  vow  of  poverty  was  enforced.      No  sister 

could  have  any  property  of  her  own.      There 

were  no  chests  or  drawers  in  the  cells,  and  if 

any   religious  was  observed  to  be  attached  to 

the  least  thing,  it  was   taken  from  her.     The 

habit,  scapular,    mantle,    veil,   and    in    fact   the 

whole  of  the  sisters'   dress,  bed   furniture,  and 

linen,  were  to  be  of  the  p^nrr^t  kind.      Besides 

these    rules,    there    was    the    obligation    to    go 

barefoot   in  all  seasons.     There  were  to  be  two 

planks  in  every  bed,  and  only  a  single  covering. 

Think  of  the  entire  change  of  life  forced  upon 

the  two  young  Spanish  heiresses! 

The  persons  to  be  received  as  novices  were 
to  be  in  good  health,  of  good  understanding, 
at  least  seventeen  years  old,  and  animated  by 
a  true  desire  to  lead  a  devout  religious  life. 
The  grille  was  not  to  be  opened,  or  the  nuns 
allowed  to  raise  their  veils  to  speak  with  any 
but  their  nearest  relatives.     Chapters  were  to  be 


i 


SECRET  REMOVAL    TO  ST  JOSE  PITS.    10$ 

held  once  a  week,  in  which  they  accused  them- 
selves of  their  faults  and  aided  one  another  in 
pointing  out  their  spiritual  failings. 

Theresa  herself  tried  to  be  the  model  for 
all  in  the  convent.  She  was  frequently  occu- 
pied in  the  most  menial  duties,  sweeping  out 
the  dirtiest  places,  and  helping  often  in  the 
kitchen.  She  forbade  the  common  practice 
in  vogue  among  the  nuns  of  the  Incarnation, 
of  giving  to  the  sisters  the  title  of  Doiia  or 
Lady.  She  preferred  that  they  should  call  one 
another  "  Sister,"  or  "  Your  Charity."  She  her- 
self, as  prioress,  wished  to  be  called  simply 
"  Mother." 

The  five  years  Theresa  spent  at  St.  Joseph's 
were  among  the  happiest  of  her  life.  Here  she 
was  for  the  first  time  able  to  use  her  strength 
and  energy  to  some  purpose.  At  last  she  felt 
herself  to  be  a  real  power  for  good  in  the  world. 
Her  restless  nature  and  vague  ambition  found 
a  deep  satisfaction  in  a  life  of  conscious  power 
and  usefulness,  which  called  out  all  that  was  best 
in  her  mind  and  heart.  In  this  little  convent 
Theresa  was  surrounded  by  love,  and  lived  in 


I06         SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 

an  atmosphere  of  sympathy.  Her  nature  was 
Hke  a  delicate  plant;  it  could  come  to  its  full 
perfection   only   when   all  the    influences    were 

favorable. 

"  I  lived  five  years  in  the  Convent  of  St. 
Joseph's,"  she  wrote,  **  and  the  tranquillity  and 
calmness  of  that  happy  time  my  soul  has  often 
longed  for." 

In  Theresa's  management  of  St.  Joseph's  con- 
vent there   was    one   virtue   which    she   valued 
greatly,  —  the  virtue  of  obedience,  —  blind,  pas- 
sive, unquestioning  obedience.     She  gives  this 
incident  to  illustrate  the  intellectual  subjection 
under  which  she  tried  to  keep  the  nuns:   "  One 
day,   in   the  refectory,    a   few    cucumbers   were 
given  us  at  our  meal;   a  very  small  one,  rotten 
inside,  fell  to  my  share.      Appearing  not  to  be 
aware  of  this,  I  called  one  of-  the  sisters,   and, 
to  try  her  obedience^  told   her  to  plant   the  cu- 
cumber  in    our    garden.      The    sister   asked   if 
she    should    plant    it    upwards    or   downwards, 
and   I    said,    '  Downwards.'      Immediately    she 
did  so,   without  the   thought   occurring  to   her 
that  it  would  wither;   for  her  esteem   for  obe- 


SECRET  REMOVAL    TO  ST  JOSEPH'S.      107 


dience  so  brought  her  natural  reason  into  the 
captivity  of  Christ  as  to  make  her  believe  the 
thing  quite  proper  to  be  done."  This  me- 
chanical obedience  Theresa  habitually  imposed 
on  her  novices.  There  must  be  a  complete  sur- 
render of  the  intellect  to  the  spiritual  director, 
she  thought,  or  all  effort  after  a  religious  life 
was  vain.  The  vow  of  obedience  was  the  first 
one  to  be  kept.  Another  stringent  rule  which 
Theresa  enforced,  was  that  of  forbidding  the 
nuns  to  make  intimate  friends.  Among  the  sis- 
ters in  St.  Joseph's  all  must  be  loved  alike,  and 
all  loved  "in  Christ." 

When  we  reflect  on  the  strict  ascetic  life 
led  by  these  sisters,  so  barren  of  all  human 
interest  and  beauty,  it  seems  to  us  as  if  it  would 
have  been  hardly  endurable.  Yet  the  nuns,  and 
Theresa  herself,  wrote  of  being  happy.  The 
truth  is,  as  a  French  writer  puts  it  epigram- 
matically,  **  Des  que  I'homme  a  trouve  ^  cette 
existence  un  pourqiioi  qui  le  satisfairent,  le 
comment  le  laisse  a  peu  pres  indifferent." 
The  sisters  of  St.  Joseph's  believed  that  the 
life  they  led  was  pleasing  to  Deity.     For  every 


io8 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


pang  they  suffered,  they  believed  they  should 
enjoy  *'  an  exceeding  great  reward."  It  was 
this  firm  faith  in  the  object  of  their  life  which 
made    them    willing    to    submit   to    its    many 

privations. 

As  we  study  Theresa's  conduct  in  the  capacity 
of  prioress,  we  see  that  she  must  have  pos- 
sessed unusual  tact  and  worldly  wisdom.  The 
position  was  not  an  agreeable  one,  but  Theresa 
made  all  who  obeyed  her  rule  love  her.  Per- 
haps one  reason  for  this  was,  that  she  never 
asked  a  novice  to  do  anything  which  she  her- 
self would  have  been  unwilling  to  do;  another, 
that  she  sincerely  loved  all  the  sisters,  and 
was  ready  to  listen  to  their  most  trivial  confi- 
dences with  sympathy  and  affection.  The  need 
of  sometimes  enjoying  a  little  relaxation  she 
also  appreciated,  and  tried  to  make  the  hour 
of  recreation  as  pleasant  as  possible. 

"  What  w^ould  become  of  our  little  house," 
she  used  to  say,  "  if  no  one  should  try  to  be 
agreeable  to  the  others?  We  none  of  us  have 
too  much  wit.  Let  us  each  try  to  use  what 
we    have   for   the    good    of   all.      Let    us    not 


SECRET  REMOVAL    TO  ST.  JOSEPH'S.    109 


imitate  foolish  people  who  do  not  dare  to 
speak  or  breathe  for  fear  their  religion  will  fly 
away." 

Although  Theresa  endeavored  to  make  the 
recreation  hours  agreeable,  she  insisted  that 
the  sisters  should  not  have  visits  from  those 
outside  the  convent.  "  I  know  better  than 
you,"  she  would  say,  *'  the  harm  done  by  talk- 
ing too  much  with  externs.  Be  polite  to  all 
who  come  to  see  you,  but  restrain  your  unruly 
tongues,  and  let  your  conversation  be  *  Yea, 
yea,'  and  *  nay,  nay,'  as  the  Gospel  directs." 

During  the  four  busy,  quiet  years  which 
Theresa  enjoyed  as  prioress  she  found  time  to 
write  what  is  called  her  most  famous  book; 
it  is  known  by  the  name  of  **  The  Way  of 
Perfection."  In  it  she  gave  much  sensible  ad- 
vice to  the  nuns  of  St.  Joseph's,  —  indeed,  to 
all  nuns;  and  the  book  contains  also  wise 
reflections  which  bear  on  the  practical  as  well 
as  on  the  religious  life.  It  breathes  a  spirit 
of  devout  Mysticism,  and  yet  is  not  without 
flashes  which  show  a  keen  woman's  wit.  In  this 
work  we  find  her  celebrated  remark  about  the 


no  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

foolishness  of  anything  like  magnificence  in 
rcligicfus  building:  *' Everything  is  to  fall  to 
pieces  at  the  day  of  judgment,  and  it  would 
not  be  becoming  that  the  dwelling  of  thirteen 
poor  nuns  should  make  a  great  noise  when 
it  falls." 


TWO  NEW  CONVENTS, 


III 


CHAPTER   IX. 


TWO   NEW  CONVENTS. 


When  Theresa  first  planned  the  foundation  of 
St.  Joseph's  Convent,  she  had  no  idea  of  un- 
dertaking a  reformation  which  should  spread 
through  the  whole  Carmelite  order.  She  her- 
self felt  the  need  of  living  a  more  solitary  re- 
ligious life,  and  it  seemed  a  very  simple  project 
to  leave  the  larger  convent  with  a  few  intimate 
friends,  and  form  a  smaller,  more  devoted  re- 
ligious community.  But  once  this  object  was 
accomplished,  her  ambitious  spirit  sought  to 
conquer  new  kingdoms.  Her  little  band  of 
nuns  were  so  content  in  the  new  convent,  and 
all  expressed  themselves  as  being  so  delighted 
with  the  Primitive  Rule,  that  Theresa  felt  en- 
couraged to  enlarge  the  field  of  her  usefulness. 
A  visit  from  General  Rossi  left  her  in  high 
spirits;    for  he  praised   St.   Joseph's,  and  gave 


112 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


the  prioress  a  letter  conferring  on  her  the  power 
to  establish  as  many  more  convents  as  she 
could,  and  censured  severely  any  provincial 
who  should  oppose  her  foundations.  The 
General  also  gave  her  permission  to  found  two 
monasteries  of  men  who  should  also  adopt  the 
Primitive  Rule. 

Just  at  this  time  the  Roman  Church  found 
itself  in  a  very  critical  condition.  It  was  con- 
scious of  its  own  weakness,  and  obliged  to 
recognize  the  evident  growth  of  the  Lutheran 
doctrines;  yet  it  could  do  little  to  prevent  its 
convents  and  monasteries  from  degenerating 
into  dens  of  iniquity.  On  the  one  side  it  was 
confronted  with  the  rapid  increase  of  those  it 
termed  heretics ;  on  the  other,  with  the  equally 
rapid  decay  of  sincere  piety  within  its  own 
borders.  A  zealous  Catholic  who  earnestly  de- 
sired to  promote  the  true  interests  of  the  Church 
was  not  often  to  be  found  in  those  demoralized 
days.  The  Jesuit  Fathers  were  wise  enough  to 
recocrnize  in  Theresa  an  absolute  devotion  to 
the  Catholic  faith;  from  this  woman,  whose 
education  had  been  limited,  no  heresy  was  to 


TWO  NEW  CONVENTS. 


113 


be  feared,  and  she  might  be  the  means  of 
strengthening  and  purifying  the  Church.  This, 
then,  was  the  train  of  reasoning  which  induced 
General  Rossi  and  other  Catholic  authorities  to 
put  so  much  power  into  a  woman's  hands.  In 
Theresa,  they  saw  a  tool  that  might  be  safely 
employed  in  building  new  convents,  and  yet 
one  which  would  be  sure  to  work  only  within 
prescribed  limits.  The  Roman  Church  required 
of  its  instruments  blind  obedience.  To  find  it 
combined  with  ardent  missionary  zeal  was  not 
common. 

Soon  after  obtaining  from  General  Rossi 
permission  to  continue  her  work,  Theresa  be- 
gan to  plan  for  a  new  convent.  Her  first 
move  was  to  write  to  Father  Balthasar  Alvarez, 
who  was  rector  of  a  college  in  Medina,  and  ask 
him  to  find  a  house  where  she  might  start 
another  foundation.  Father  Balthasar  Alvarez 
entered  into  Theresa's  plan  with  great  earnest- 
ness, and  succeeded  in  finding  her  a  suitable 
house  at  a  moderate  price.  Unfortunately  the 
house  was  badly  out  of  repair;  but  not  dis- 
couraged by  this,  Theresa  determined  to  take 


114 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


possession  of  it  at  once.  Accompanied  by  two 
inmates  of  St.  Joseph's  and  four  of  her  old 
friends  from  the  Incarnation,  she  started  on 
her  journey. 

The  sisters  travelled  in  four  or  five  carriages, 
taking  with  them  every  piece  of  furniture  which 
could  be  spared  from  St.  Joseph's.     During  the 
journey,  the   nuns  followed  the   exact  order  of 
religious  exercises  pursued  in  the  convent  they 
had  left.     A  little  bell  marked  the  duration  of 
each  hour,  and  the  time  was  indicated  by  an 
hour-glass.     The    friars,  the    priests,   and    even 
the  drivers  were  obliged  to  follow  the  same  rule. 
Silence  was  enforced  constantly,  save  in  the  hour 
set  aside  for  recreation;    and  the   sisters  were 
obliged   to  keep  their  veils  down,  so  that  they 
might  not  be  seen  even  by  women.     The  litde 
party  travelled  all  day  and  until  midnight  before 
reaching  their  destination.     They  went  on  foot 
through  the  streets    of  Medina  del   Campo,  in 
order  to  make  no  disturbance.     ''  It  was  a  won- 
der," Theresa  writes,  "that  wc  did  not  come  to 
some  trouble,  for  the  bulls  which  were  to  fight 
the  next  day  were  being  driven  *)ut  through  the 


TWO  NEW  CONVENTS. 


115 


streets  as  wc  passed."  When  the  sisters  reached 
the  house,  they  found  it  very  much  out  of  re- 
pair. "  But  not  so  much  so  as  afterwards  by 
daylight,"  Theresa  wrote. 

What  a  strange,  adventurous  expedition  was 
this  for  these  quiet  nuns,  whose  life  had  been 
so  long  shut  out  from  the  world  of  action  !  But 
they  did  not  have  much  time  to  think  of  its 
novelty,  as  they  all  had  to  work  hard  to  make 
the  ruined  building  habitable.  For  once,  Marys 
gave  up  their  praying  to  become  Marthas,  as 
the  dirt  of  ages  had  to  be  scrubbed  and  brushed 
away  before  they  could  even  decide  whether  or 
not  the  building  was  fit  to  be  used.  The  deco- 
ration of  the  room  they  wished  for  their  chapel 
was  the  most  important  part  of  their  work. 
They  had  been  given  some  rare  bits  of  damask 
and  pieces  of  tapestry,  which  they  arranged 
behind  the  altar  to  get  a  good  effect  of  color. 
Some  cleaned  the  floors,  some  cleared  away  the 
rubbish,  while  others  tried  to  conceal  the  dis- 
colored walls  by  hangings,  and  to  arrange  a  few 
flowers  on  the  altar.  The  result  of  all  this 
energetic  industry  was  seen  at  daybreak,  when 


\ 


V 


Il6         SAINT   THERESA    OF  AIT  LA, 

the  bell  was  hung  and  the  chapel  ready  for  the 
celebration  of  Mass. 

With  our  knowledge  of  Theresa's  character, 
it  is  easy  for  us  to  imagine  the  eagerness  which 
she  put  into  that  hasty  night's  work.  George 
Herbert's  lines,  — 

"  A  servant  with  this  clause 
Makes  drudgery  divine  ; 
Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  Thy  laws 
Makes  that  and  th'  action  fine," 

apply  admirably  to  this  midnight  adventure. 
The  high  purpose  sanctified  the  useless  work. 
It  is  this  thought  we  must  keep  in  mind  through 
all  our  studies  of  monastic  life. 

These  earnest  workers  were  seriously  disap- 
pointed when,  the  next  morning,  they  were 
obliged  to  leave  their  newly  decorated  chapel 
and  betake  themselves  to  the  house  of  a  kindly 
nobleman.  Here  they  lived  for  two  months, 
while  the  convent  was  put  in  decent  repair. 
Their  noble  friend  gave  them  the  upper  part 
of  his  house,  where  the  Primitive  Rule  could  be 
followed  out  exactly  as  it  had  been  followed  in 
St.  Joseph's. 


TWO   NEW  CONVENTS. 


117 


While  Theresa  was  in  Medina,  she  met  for  the 
first  time  a  young  theological  student  named 
Juan  of  St.  Mathias,  a  name  afterwards  changed 
to  Saint  John  of  the  Cross.  This  meeting  proved 
to  be  momentous  in  the  light  of  subsequent  \ 
proceedings;  for  the  young  man  consented 
to  join  the  Carmelite  Reform.  The  good  prior 
Heredia,  a  much  older  man,  also  promised  to 
join  the  Reform;  so  that  before  Theresa  left 
Medina  she  had,  as  she  playfully  expressed  it, 
"a  friar  and  a  half"  ready  to  help  her  in  her 

great  work. 

In  October,  1567,  Theresa  left  Inez  of  Jesus 
and  Anne  of  the  Incarnation  as   prioress  and 
sub-prioress    of    the    new    convent,    and  went 
herself   to   Madrid.       She   took  with   her   the 
sister   of    the    Bishop    of    Avila    and    another 
friend.      In  Madrid,  her  friends  did  their  best 
to  make  a  '*  lion  "  of  her,  but  she  refused   to 
display  her  piety,  and  the  strangers  who  visited 
her  went  away  disappointed,  because  she  talked 
to  them  about  the  sights  in  the  city,  and  the 
beautiful  scenery,  and  could  not  be  persuaded 
to  amuse  them   by  giving   a   glowing  account 


Il8  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


of  her  visions.  Her  religious  experiences  were 
too  sacred  to  be  paraded  before  curious  and 
unsympathetic  people. 

From  Madrid,  Theresa  journeyed   to  Alcala. 
There   Maria  de  Jesus   had  established   a  con- 
vent   of    Reformed    Carmelites;     but    she    had 
been  too  severe   in   her  government,  and  gone 
far  towards  ruining  the  health  of  all  the  nuns. 
Great   wisdom   was    required    in   a    prioress   to 
keep  the  nuns  in  health,  and  yet  deprive  them 
of  all    the    good    things   of  life.      Theresa    re- 
mained in  Alcala  until  the  middle  of  February, 
1568.     She  watched   over  the   feeble  sisters   in 
this   convent,  and  left  them  all  in  better  health 
and  spirits.     From  Alcala  she  went  to  Toledo, 
and  thence  to  begin  a  new  foundation  at  Mala- 
gon.      Here  the  parish   priest  aided   her  most 
cordially.     The  first  house  selected  proved  to 
be  in  a  noisy  locality.     Then   Dona  Luisa  of- 
fered to  provide   funds  to   build  a  chapel  and 
convent  in  a  beautiful  field   of  olive-trees   not 
far    from    her   castle.      Theresa   was    delighted 
with  this   plan,  and   in  her  eagerness   to  have 
the  building  completed  spent  much  time  with 


TWO  NEW  CONVENTS,  119 

the  workmen ;  some  writers  record  that  she 
herself  assisted  in  the  mechanical  work.  The 
first  prioress  of  Malagon  was  named  Anne  of 
AH  the  Angels.  Theresa  writes  her  kind  friend 
Dona  Luisa  regarding  the  new  convent:  — 

"  The  sisters  are  very  happy.     We   have  decided 
that  for  the  instruction  of  little  girls  a  woman  should 
be    engaged,  -  a    Thcatinc  (a    woman    Jesuitical   m 
spirit).     The  convent  is  to  feed  her;  it  will  do  this. 
We  must  give  something  in  the  way  of  alms,  and  it 
may  as  well  be  in  this  way.     This  woman  will  teach, 
gratis,  the   little   girls  to  work,  and   by   this   means, 
having  them  in  her  own  hands,  she  will  teach  them  the 
Christian  doctrines  and  their  duties  towards  God.  .  .  . 
The  religious  are  so  fervent ;  they  have  an  excellent 
confessor,  and  the  parish  priest  is  devoted  to  them.  .  .  . 
I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  our  Father  has  spoken  to  me 
of  a^'religious  who,  besides  knowing  how  to  read  very 
well,  has  qualities  which  please  him.     She  has  only  two 
hundred  ducats ;  but  our  sisters  are  so  few,  and  the 
want  so  great  in  the  convent,  which  is  only  beginnmg, 
that  I  am  of  opinion  that  she  should  be  received.     I 
prefer  to  take  a  girl  of  this  sort  to  one  who  is  stupid  ; 
and  if  I  find  another  like  her,  I  shall  admit  no  others. 
Good-by,  my  dear  lady.    I  do  not  like  to  end,  and  I  do 
not  know  how  I  can  go  away  from  one  I  love  so  much, 
and  to  whom  I  am  under  such  great  obligations." 


120 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


After  leaving  Malagon,  Theresa  hastened  to 
a  place  called  Durvelo,  where  a  young  gentle- 
man of  Avila  had  offered  her  a  house  which  he 
owned,  that  she  might  there  found  a  monastery 
of  Discalced  friars.  It  was  about  this  time  that 
Theresa's  close  intimacy  with  Saint  John  of 
the  Cross  began;  but  her  relations  with  this 
remarkable  man,  and  their  influence  over  each 
other,  deserve  an  entire  chapter. 


SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE   CROSS. 


121 


CHAPTER  X. 

SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS. 


I 


r^- 


Saint  John  of  the  Cross  is  known  as  one  of 
the  great  Mystics  of  the  world.     Saint  Theresa 
and  Saint  John  of  the  Cross  have  ahvays  stood 
together   as  concrete   examples   of  Mysticism. 
This  curious  word  has  found  all  sorts  of  defi- 
nitions.—a  definition,  we  might  say,  has  arisen 
to  meet  the  needs  of  every  age.     The  poets 
have    called    it   "the    romance    of    religion;" 
while   sceptical   scientists   tell    us    that   "Mys- 
ticism, whether    in   religion   or   philosophy,   is 
that  form  of  error  which  mistakes  for  a  divme 
manifestation  the  operation  of  a  merely  human 
faculty."      There   is   the  Mysticism   which  has 
hidden  itself  in  the  cloister,  and  the  Mysticism 
which  has  spent  itself  in  hopeless  attempts  to 
reform  the  world.      There  have  been  Mystics 
who  have  been  willing  to  accept  all  the  dogmas 


i' 


122  SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVI  LA. 


of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  Mystics  who  have 
carried  the  rehgion  of  negation  so  far  that 
they  really  have  been  in  the  exact  position 
occupied  by  our  nineteenth-century  Agnostics, 
and  confessed  that  they  "  could  not  know  any- 
thing about  the  Infinite,  but  could  simply 
gaze  with  closed  eyes,  and  receive  impressions, 
lost  in  the  silent,  boundless  Dark  of  the  Divine 
Substance."  Thus  the  circle  completes  itself; 
and,  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  Mysticibiu 
and  Agnosticism  touch  hands  and  hearts. 

In  the  history  of  Mysticism  we  find  noted  the 
philosophical  perfection  of  the  Neo-Platonists 
of  Alexandria,  and  the  monastic  perfection  of 
the  Spanish  monks.  We  read  of  Mysticism 
which  has  been  a  force  for  good,  and  has 
driven  men  to  perform  deeds  requiring  the 
utmost  heroism;  and  then  we  turn  over  a  few 
pages,  to  find  that  certain  kinds  of  Mysticism 
have  degenerated  into  the  wildest  license. 
There  is  a  disease  which  we  may  perhaps  term 
•'  Hysterical  Mysticism."  The  sufferers  from 
this  malady  pass  days  and  nights  in  swoons  and 
mysterious   ecstasies;    young  girls  and  middle- 


SA INT  JOHN  OF  THE   CROSS.         1 23 

acred  women  are  specially  susceptible  to  these 
symptoms,  and  undoubtedly  many  of  the  saints 
in  the   Roman  calendar  were  unconscious  suf- 
ferers from  it.     Then  there  is  still  another  form 
of  Mysticism,  which   is   not  emotional,  but  in- 
tellectual.    In  one  age  this  form  of  Mysticism 
calls  itself  Theism  ;   in  another,  Tanthelsm.    But 
in  every  age  both  monks  and  philosophers  are 
agreed  in  claiming  for  the  word  the  idea  of  in- 
itiation into  something  hidden, —  some  knowl- 
edge which  can  only  be  attained  by  a  certain 
peculiar  kind  of  mental  training.     The  Roman 
Catholic  theologians  who  have  written  upon  this 
subject  use  the  term  *'  Mysticism  "  to  denote  a 
religion  of  the  heart  as  opposed  to  either  scho- 
lasticism  or  ritualism,  and   undoubtedly  Mysti- 
cism has  usually  flourished  in  a  time  of  formal- 
ism in  religion;   it  has  appeared  as  a  kind  of 
reaction  against  religious  torpor.      The  human 
soul,  in  despair,  abandons  symbols,  earthly  dis- 
tinctions, and  mental   processes,  to  learn  ''  ex- 
perimentally that  God  far  transcends  all  images, 
—  corporeal,  spiritual,  or  divine."     Human  be- 
ings, weary  of  the  world  and  its  fleeting  joys, 


124         SAINT  THERESA   OF  A  VILA. 

in  every  age  and  nation,  have  been  at  times 
filled  with  passionate  yearnings  after  rest  and 
peace.  In  this  mood  they  liave  ahvays  gone 
outside  of  forms,  and  communed  in  their  own 
hearts  with  God. 

"  On  Divine  Love  to  meditate  is  peace, 

And  makes  all  care  of  meaner  things' to  cease." 
In  times  of  languid  longings  for  repose,  and 
heart-weariness,  the  weak  have  felt  the  subtle 
charm  of  Mysticism ;  while  stronger  souls  have 
tried  by  its  aid  to  pierce  the  barriers  that  hide 
from  man  the  unseen  world. 

Some  Mystics  have  been  called  "spiritual 
lotus-eaters,"  for  they  have  seemed  to  find  no 
joy  but  calm.  But  to  others  besides  these 
"spiritual  lotus-eaters"  the  gentle  words  of 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  Madame  Guyon,  and  Molinos 
still  come  like  soothing  anodynes.  Well  is  it 
for  us,  in  this  material  age,  that  we  can  rely  on 
the  words  of  these  spiritual  teachers,  for  man 
may  not  live  "  by  bread  alone ;  "  and  some  of 
these  great  prophets  have  with  rare  sweetness 
voiced  the  will  of  God. 

In  our  own  age  there   is  a  reaction  against 


I 


SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE   CROSS.  1 25 

scepticism  and  materialism  which  has  much 
in  common  with  certain  forms  of  Mysticism. 
That  passing  phase  of  mental  entanglement 
which  is  called  Mental  or  Christian  Science  is 
far  from  being  a  new  growth.  It  is  spiritually 
related  to  the  great  historic  religious  school  of 
Quietism.  The  germ  of  truth  it  possesses  is 
spiritual  truth,  which  has  been  in  the  world 
for  at  least  eighteen  centuries. 

"  The  Love  of  Thee  flows  just  as  much 
As  that  of  ebbing  self  subsides  ; 
Our  hearts,  their  scantiness  is  such, 
Bear  not  the  conflict  of  two  rival  tides." 

In  losing  self  in  God,  the  Christian  Scientist 
finds  health,  the  Mystic  finds  peace.  The  words 
are  really  synonyms. 

"The  loving  soul,"  writes  Ludovic  Blosius, 
"  flows  down,  I  say,  falls  away  from  herself, 
and,  reduced  as  it  were  to  nothing,  melts  and 
glides  away  altogether  into  the  abyss  of  Eter- 
nal Love.  Then,  dead  to  herself,  she  lives  in 
God,  knowing  nothing,  perceiving  nothing,  ex- 
cept the  love  she  tastes.  For  she  loses  her- 
self in    that   vastest   solitude,  the   darkness    of 


126 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


Divinity;  but  thus  to  lose,  is  in  fact  to  find 
herself.  Then,  putting  off  whatsoever  is  hu- 
man, and  putting  on  whatever  is  divine,  she  is 
transformed  and  transmuted  into  God,  as  iron 
in  a  furnace  takes  the  form  of  fire,  and  is  trans- 
muted into  fire."  The  Faith  Cure,  according  to 
the  definition  of  one  of  its  writers,  "  uses  all 
its  powers  to  start  the  human  recipient  life- 
current  out  of  its  mortal  prison,  so  that  meeting 
the  ever-present  Divine  current,  it  enables  that 
Divine  current  to  enter  its  sufferer  and  fill  him 
with  new  life."  These  two  quotations  prove 
how  closely  Mysticism  and  Christian  Science 
are  bound  together.  Thus  the  fashionable  fad 
of  the  nineteenth  century  is  only  a  new  form 
of  stating  the  great  truth  that  "  to  be  spiritually 
minded  is  Hfe  and  peace." 

Vaughan,  one  of  the  greatest  authorities  on 
Mysticism,  divides  the  subject  into  three  parts, 
—  theopathetic,  theosophic,  and  theurgic.  He 
then  subdivides  the  first  of  these  divisions  into' 
the  transitive  and  the  intransitive.  By  theo- 
pathetic, Vai>ghan  means  that  Mysticism  which 
resigns  itself  in  a  passivity  more  or  less  abso- 


SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE   CROSS. 


127 


lute  to  an  imaginary  Divine  manifestation.  One 
Mystic  of  this  order  may  do  nothing,  while  an- 
other may  believe  himself  driven  to  be  cease- 
lessly active.  Whether  one  believes  himself  to 
be  "  a  leaf  driven  by  a  mighty  rushing  wind 
of  the  spirit,"  or  **  a  mirror  in  which  Deity 
glasses  himself,"  the  principle  of  passivity  is 
the  same.  "  Believest  thou  not  that  I  am  in 
the  Father  and  the  Father  in  me?  I  speak  not 
of  myself;  but  the  Father  that  dwelleth  in  me, 
he  doeth  the  works,"  said  the  greatest  of  all 
Mystics,  the  Galilean  Teacher,  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  intransitive  division  of  theopathetic 
Mysticism  we  find  such  names  as  Ruybroek 
Molinos,  and  almost  all  the  great  Quietists.  In 
the  transitive  division  come  all  the  turbulent 
prophets  and  crazy  fanatics. 

Now,  for  the  second  division  of  Mysticism. 
The  German  writers  call  Mysticism  **  Theoso- 
phy"  when  it  is  applied  to  natural  science. 
The  Theosophist  is  one  wiio  holds  a  theory  of 
God  which  has  not  reason  but  an  inspiration 
of  his  own  for  its  basis.  Theosophic  Mys- 
ticism   aspires    to   know  and    believes    itself  in 


128 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


possession   of   a   certain    ''divine    faculty"    for 
that  purpose. 

The  third  division  of  this  subject,  thcurgic 
Mysticism,  covers  that  form  of  Mysticism  which 
claims  supernatural  powers  and  works  mira- 
cles. Religious  magicians  belong  to  this  class. 
"  Whether  the  Mystic  seeks  the  triumph  of  su- 
perhuman knowledge,  or  that  intoxication  of  the 
feelings  which  is  to  translate  him  to  the  upper 
world,  after  a  time  he  is  apt  to  crave  a  sign. 
Theurgy  is  the  art  which  brings  that  sign.  Its 
appearance,  whether  in  philosophy  or  religion, 
is  the  first  symptom  of  failiui;  faith!' 

In  the  fourteenth  century,  IVIysticism  went 
hand  in  hand  with  considerable  freedom  of 
thouciht;  but  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Ro- 
man  Church  was  conscious  of  its  possible 
dangers,  and  permitted  it  to  exist  only  as  it 
subserved  some  ecclesiastical  scheme.  In  Saint 
John  of  the  Cross,  Vaughan  tells  us  that  we 
behold  the  ''final  masterpiece"  of  Mysticism. 
Saint  Theresa  and  Saint  John  have  made 
Spanish  Mysticism  famous  all  the  world  over. 
These    two    feeble-bodied    enthusiasts,  working 


SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE   CROSS,  1 29 

together,  are  said  by  the  best  historians  to  have 
been  powerful  instruments  in  arresting  the 
progress  of  Protestantism  in  Spain  by  causing 
their  own  small  reformation  to  flourish  within 
the  Roman  Church,  and  thus  retaining  there 
the  vitality  which  would  otherwise  have  ex- 
pended itself  outside,  and  would  have  given  a 
result  in  Spain  similar  to  that  in  Germany.  As 
it  was,  Lutheranism  took  very  little  hold  on  the 
minds  of  the  Spanish  people. 

Little  Saint  John  of  the  Cross,  or  "  Little 
Seneca,"  as  Theresa  sometimes  called  him,  was 
the  son  of  Gonzalo  de  Yepes,  a  Spaniard  of 
fortune  and  family,  who  threw  both  away,  to 
marry,  when  very  young,  a  pretty  but  penni- 
less girl  named  Catherine  Alvarez.  His  family 
were  so  indignant  with  him  for  contracting  this 
vu'salliance,  that  they  refused  to  give  him  any 
pecuniary  aid,  and  he  was  obliged  to  support 
his  little  family  by  laboring  as  a  common 
peasant  in  the  field.  Three  sons  were  the  fruit 
of  this  romantic  union.  The  eldest,  Louis, 
died  young,  the  second,  Francis,  was  distin- 
guished   for   his    piety;    and    the    third,  John, 

9 


I30 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVI  LA. 


became  the  greatest  of  the  Spanish  Mystics, 
famed  all  the  world  over  for  his  devotion  to  the 
Roman  Church.  The  future  saint  was  scarcely 
more  than  an  infant  when  his  father  died,  leav- 
ing the  pretty  young  mother  to  carry  the  bur- 
den of  her  family.  She  was  fortunate  enough 
to  interest  a  wealthy  nobleman  of  Toledo  in  the 
future  saint,  and  he,  at  his  own  expense,  edu- 
cated the  boy  at  a  college  at  Salamanca. 

Spanish  historians  tell  us  that  from  his  earliest 
youth  John  was  honored  by  special  marks  of 
approbation  from  the  Virgin  Mary;  and  that 
he  also  took  a  high  rank  as  a  student,  and  soon 
made  up  his  mind  to  devote  his  life  to  religion. 
When  Theresa  first  met  the  man  who  was  to 
be  of  so  much  help  to  her  in  her  work,  he 
was  a  pale-faced,  slightly  built  young  monk  of 
twenty-five  years.  He  is  described  even  at  this 
early  age  as  having  more  soul  than  body,  and 
what  little  physical  strength  the  Lord  had  given 
him  he  did  his  best  to  destroy  by  extravagant 
fasting.  The  name  of  John  of  the  Cross  was 
given  him  on  account  of  his  insatiable  passion 
for  suffering.      One  writer  calls  him  "a  Syba- 


SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE  CROSS.  131 


rite  of  asceticism,"  and  tells  us  that  '*  he  took 
an  epicurean  delight  in  penance."  He  filled  his 
cell  —  too  low  to  permit  the  occupant  to  stand 
erect  —  with  crosses  and  death's-heads ;  and  it 
was  his  constant  prayer  that  not  a  day  of  his 
life  might  pass  in  which  he  did  not  suffer 
something.  Again  and  again  did  he,  in  his  last 
years,  exhort  the  monks  under  him,  saying, 
**  Whatsoever  you  find  pleasant  to  soul  or  body, 
abandon!  whatsoever  .is  painful,  embrace  it!" 
Indeed  the  whole  life  of  Saint  John  of  the  Cross 
was  a  practical  attempt  to  carry  out  this  fright- 
ful theory.  He  pursued  it  relentlessly,  even  to 
the  end.  In  his  last  illness  he  needed  to  be 
removed,  and  he  was  told  to  choose  between 
two  places.  At  one  of  them  his  deadly  enemy 
was  prior;  he  therefore  bade  his  friends  carry 
him  there,  because  he  would  have  most  to 
suffer. 

While  banished  to  the  little  convent  of  Peg- 
nuela,  Saint  John  of  the  Cross  busied  himself 
completing  his  famous  Mystical  treatise  called 
"  The  Obscure  Night,  and  the  Ascent  of  Mount 
Carmel."     Much  of  this  book  is  absolutely  un- 


ll 


132  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 

intelligible  to  modern    readers,  but  it  breathes 
a  spirit  of  high  and  pure  devotion  to  God  and 

Christ. 

Saint  John  of  the  Cross   is  a  character  who 
calls  forth  our  deepest  admiration;    he  had  a 
lofty,  poetic  nature,  a  consecrated  moral  pur- 
pose,   and    an    enthusiasm  for  the    ascetic    life. 
He  was  far  from  being  a  vision-craving  senti- 
mentalist ;     although     perhaps     the     Germans 
would  call  him  a  **  God-intoxicated  "  man.     His 
religious  feelings,  when  they  found  expression  in 
words,  became   open  to  the   criticism  of  being 
obscure  and  incomprehensible;  he  saw  and  felt 
infinitely  more  than  he  had  the  power  to  con- 
vey to  others.      In  vain  does  he  try  to  divide 
his  great  work  on  Mysticism  into  logical  heads ; 
it    still    remains    to    most    readers  "  a    strange 
mixture   of  love  and   logic,  tears  and   tropes." 
Extravagant  as  were  many  of  Saint  John's  the- 
ories  and  practices,  he  still  stands  out  in  our 
minds  as  a  character  who  is  worthy  of  our  pro- 
foundest  reverence ;   for  his  faith  never  faltered, 
and  he  pursued  to  the  end  the  course  his  con- 
science pointed  out  to  him.    This  single-minded 


SAINT  JOHN  OF  THE   CROSS.         133 

ascetic  held  as  the  first  principle  of  his  religious 
philosophy  that  only  through  bodily  suffering 
and  sacrifice  could  man  find  and  enjoy  God. 

"  Burn,  burn,  O  Love,  within  my  heart,  — 
Burn  fiercely  night  and  day, 
Till  all  the  dross  of  earthly  love 
Is  burned  and  burned  away." 

This  saint,  whose  only  joy  was  pain,  is  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  figures  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  He  was  a  pure  idealist,  and 
apparently  he  lived  up  to  his  ideals.  However 
mistaken  his  theory  of  life  may  have  been, 
however  narrow  and  irrational,  he  yet  lived  up 
to  it  with  unswerving  consistency;  and  such 
consistency  is  too  rare  and  too  precious  a  jewel 
to  be  lightly  valued  in  any  age. 

Theresa  was  fifty-two  years  old  when  she 
first  met  this  young  zealot;  and  they  became 
kindred  spirits  at  once.  Indeed,  Saint  John 
promised  to  be  the  first  to  enter  the  Reformed 
monastery  for  friars,  if  Theresa  would  not  keep 
him  waiting  too  long. 


w 


134         SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVILA, 


DURVELO.—  VALLA  DOLID. 


135 


CHAPTER   XI. 

DURVELO.  — VALLADOLID. 

We  left  Theresa  on  the  eve  of  starting  for 
Durvelo.  She  took  with  her  Antonia  and  the 
good  priest  JuHan  of  Avila.  Her  own  account 
of  this  journey  is  worth  translating :  — 

"  We  set  out  early  in  the  morning  ;  but  as  we  did  not 
know  the  road,  we  missed  it,  and  the  place  being  but 
little  known,  we  could  not  hear  much  about  it.  We 
spent  the  day  in  great  toil,  for  the  sun  was  very  strong  ; 
when  we  thought  we  were  near  the  place,  we  had  to 
go  as  far  again.  I  shall  always  remember  that  weari- 
some and  winding  road!  We  reached  the  house  a 
little  before  nightfall,  and  the  state  it  was  in  when  we 
entered  was  such  that  we  could  not  venture  to  pass 
the  night  there,  because  of  the  exceeding  absence  of 
cleanliness.  It  had  a  fair  porch,  two  rooms,  one  be- 
yond the  other,  and  a  garret,  with  a  small  kitchen. 
This  was  the  whole  building  which  was  to  be  our  mon- 
astery.    I  thought  that  the  porch  might  be  made  into 


a  church,  the  garret  into  a  choir,  which  would  do  well, 
and  the  friars  could  sleep  in  the  room.  The  nun 
who  was  with  me,  although  much  better  than  I  am  and 
much  more  given  to  penance,  could  not  bear  to  think 
of  having  a  monastery  there ;  she  said  to  me,  *  Cer- 
tainly, mother,  there  is  nobody,  however  great  his 
spirituality,  who  can  bear  this."  The  father  who  was 
travelling  with  me  said  he  would  live  not  only  there, 
but  in  a  pigsty,  and  John  of  the  Cross,  who  had 
joined  the  party,  was  of  the  same  mind." 

After  deciding  reluctantly  to  use  this  wretched 
building  for  a  monastery  as  soon  as  funds  were 
obtained  for  remodelling  it,  Theresa  set  out  for 
Valladolid,  intending  to  found  there  still  another 
convent.  She  took  with  her  John  of  the  Cross, 
that  she  might  give  him  all  the  instruction  in 
her  power  concerning  the  Primitive  Rule  as 
practised  in  the  new  convents  of  the  Reform. 

"  He  had  the  means,"  Theresa  writes,  "  be- 
cause he  would  not  keep  enclosure  for  several 
days  in  the  new  house,  of  learning  our  way  of 
life  so  that  he  might  clearly  understand  every- 
thing, both  the  mortification  we  practise  and 
the  sisterly  affection  with  which  we  treat  one 
another." 


136  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

A  few  months  passed,  before  the  monastery 
in  Durvclo  was  ready  for  occupancy.      Father 
Antonio  wrote  favorably  of  his  great  success  in 
begging    for  the    foundation;    thus  were    great 
expectations  raised ;   but  when  asked  to  give  an 
account  of  the  result  of  his  begging,  his  only  ac- 
quisitions were  found  to  be  **  five  hour-glasses." 
He  said  he  was  most  anxious  that  the  commu- 
nity should  be  punctual,  and  did  not  seem  to 
have  thought  it  necessary  for  them  to  have  any- 
thing   to   sit  or  sleep    upon.     Want  of  money 
delayed  this  foundation  for  several  months;   but 
finally,  in  Advent,  Saint  John  of  the  Cross  and 
Father  Antonio  began  their  lonely,  austere  life 
together.     At  first  they  had  but  two  compan- 
ions ;   and  one  of  these  was   an  old  priest  who 
was   unable    from    infirmity  to    keep   the  Rule, 
while  the  other  proved  inconstant  to  his  vows 
and  went  back  to  the  Mitigated  Rule.     It  was 
then   that   Father   Antonio    took    the   name  of 
Antonio  of  Jesus,  and  Saint  John  adopted  the 
suffix  of  the  Cross,  by  which  he  is  always  known. 
Theresa  writes   much   in   her  letters  about  the 
ascetic,  barren  life  led  by  these  two  holy  friars. 


DURVELLO,  —  VALLADOLID. 


137 


The  little  church  had  no  decorations  whatso- 
ever. Each  friar  had  a  stone  in  his  cell  for  a 
pillow,  and  each  went  out  daily,  in  all  weathers, 
walking  two  leagues  barefooted,  to  preach  in  a 
neighboring  hamlet. 

While  the  two  devout  fathers  were  settling 
themselves  in  Durvelo,  Theresa  remained  in 
Valladolid.  The  new  convent  there  proved  to 
be  extremely  unhealthy,  and  all  the  nuns  fell 
ill.  Then  a  noble  lady  in  the  neighborhood 
offered  to  exchange  houses,  and  provide  the 
new  community  with  a  better  convent.  It  took 
some  time  to  put  these  quarters  in  order,  and 
Theresa  remained  with  the  sisters  until  the  ex- 
change was  fairly  made. 

We  have  several  interesting  letters  of  Theresa 
written  to  her  old  friend  in  Avila,  Don  Fran- 
'  Cisco  de  Salcedo,  during  this  prolonged  stay  in 
Valladolid.  He  seems  to  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  sending  fruit  and  vegetables  to  the  inmates 
of  St.  Joseph's,  and  she  thanks  him  quaintly, 
saying :  — 

"  I  think  it  no  little  thing,  the  six  ducats  that  you 
say  that  you  would  give  to  come  and  see  me.     I  thmk 


138         SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVILA. 

it  a  great  deal.  But  then,  what  would  I  not  give  to 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  ?  In  sooth,  you  are 
worth  more  than  I  am?  What  is  a  poor  nun  who 
owns  nothing?  Of  what  importance  is  she?  A  gen- 
tleman who  sends  us  delicious  drinks  and  dainties,  who 
can  also  give  us  radishes  and  lettuce,  and  when  he 
brings  us  apples,  will  employ  no  other  servant  but  him- 
self, ought  to  be  held  in  somewhat  higher  estimation. 
Speaking  of  drinks,  they  say  that  there  is  a  delicious 
one  to  be  had  here ;  but  Don  Francisco  de  Salcedo 
not  being  at  hand,  we  know  nothing  of  its  taste,  and 
are  without  hope  of  knowing  it." 

This  letter  of  Theresa  has  a  pleasant  "  carnal  " 
flavor,  which  makes  our  saint  seem  agreeably 
human.  We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  think  of  the 
white-robed  sisters  of  St.  Joseph's  as  some- 
times indulging  themselves  in  material  pleas- 
ures. What  were  the  dainty  drinks  and  cooling 
cups  prepared  by  the  faithful  Spanish  cavalier 
for  these  pious  nuns?  And  at  the  ringing  of 
which  bell  were  the  members  of  the  commu- 
nity permitted  solemnly  to  treat  themselves  to 
these  innocent  luxuries  }  It  is  such  questions 
as  these  for  which  we  vainly  seek  answers  in  the 
voluminous  manuscript  of  Saint  Theresa  s  life. 


DURVELLO.—  VALLADOLID. 


139 


Pious  hands  have  conscientiously  excerpted 
many  of  the  human  touches  we  in  this  impious 
age  would  so  much  enjoy  reading.  It  is  only 
here  and  there,  scattered  through  Theresa's 
letters,  that  we  find  evidences  to  indicate  that 
the  woman  was  never  wholly  lost  in  the  saint. 


I40 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   PRINCESS  EBOLI. 

After  the  two  new  foundations  described  in 
the  last  chapter,  the  Princess  of  Eboli  sent  for 
Theresa  to  come  to  Pastrana.  There  she  was 
received  by  the  princess  and  her  husband  with 
great  affection  and  respect.  They  at  once  as- 
signed her  a  large  apartment  in  their  palace. 
The  princess  had  sent  for  Theresa  because  she 
wished  her  to  start  a  convent  of  the  Reformed 
order  in  Pastrana ;  but  her  desire  proved  to  be 
only  the  whim  of  an  idle  woman.  Convents  of 
the  Reformed  order  became  the  fashion  for  a 
time,  and  Theresa  suffered  much  at  the  hands 
of  silly  women  who  had  no  sincere  interest  in 
the  new  work,  and  took  it  up  for  a  momentary 
diversion. 

The  princess,  who  was  wont  to  have  her  own 
way  about  everything,  wished  Theresa  to  change 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLI 


141 


her  rules  to  suit  her  good  pleasure ;  and  when 
Theresa  refused  to  do  this,  she  acted  like  a 
spoiled  child.  At  one  time  she  determined  to 
read  the  manuscript  containing  the  account  of 
Theresa's  life.  Theresa  at  first  refused  to  show 
it  to  her;  and  finally,  after  the  princess  had 
teased  her  into  lending  it  to  her  husband  and 
herself,  she  proceeded  to  make  every  sort  of  fun 
of  it,  and  read  aloud  extracts  to  any  and  every 
one  she  met.  We  can  imagine  how  annoyed 
Theresa  must  have  been  by  this  and  similar 
other  petty  persecutions.  Nor  was  this  the 
end;  for  —  whether  from  accident  or  design  it 
is  not  known  —  in  some  way  through  the  Prin- 
cess Eboli,  Theresa's  manuscript  was  sent  to 
the  Inquisition  to  be  examined.  Although  the 
saint's  Life  was  returned  by  the  officers  of  this 
horrible  institution  and  approved,  yet  the  mere 
fact  of  the  examination  both  mortified  and 
alarmed  Theresa. 

This  same  wayward  princess  caused  the  order 
still  more  trouble  a  few  years  later,  when  she 
was  left  a  widow.  Directly  after  her  husband's 
death  she  made  up  her  mind  to  become  a  nun. 


142 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


She  put  on  the  Carmelite  dress  by  the  side  of 
her  husband's  body,  and  immediately  sent  word 
to  the  sisters  at  Pastrana  to  expect  her,  and 
prepare  a  cell  for  her.  The  good  prioress  was 
dismayed ;  there  was  nothing  for  her  to  do, 
however,  but  yield  to  the  request  of  the  foun- 
dress of  the  convent.  No  sooner  had  the 
wayward  princess  become  an  inmate,  than  she 
began  to  make  rules  for  herself,  and  refused 
to  obey  the  Primitive  Rule.  She  insisted  on 
receiving  visitors  at  the  grille  of  the  chapel,  in 
eating  what  she  pleased,  and  in  misconducting 
herself  generally.  Theresa  wrote  reproving  her, 
and  then  the  princess  went  outside  and  lived  in 
a  small  hermitage.  At  last,  weary  of  playing 
nun,  she  returned  to  her  own  palace,  stopped 
the  income  she  had  promised  the  convent,  and 
obliged  the  convent  and  church  to  be  closed. 
This  is  only  one  of  the  various  obstacles  which 
Theresa  met  while  engaged  in  her  Reform. 
She  was  dependent  on  the  bounty  of  the  rich 
for  the  incomes  of  her  foundations;  and  too 
often  her  wealthy  benefactors  chose  to  be  unrea- 
sonable in  the  demands  they  made  upon  her. 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLI 


143 


From  Pastrana,  Theresa  went  to  Salamanca, 
to  continue  there  her  work*of  founding  religious 
houses,  and  found  that  the  structure  given  for 
the  new  convent  in  this  place  had  been  occu- 
pied for  several  years  by  students  belonging  to  a 
neighboring  university.  It  was  a  large,  rambling 
house,  but  had  been  left  in  a  filthy  condition  by 
these  Spanish  students.  The  first  night  Theresa 
spent  in  this  building  was  anything  but  agree- 
able, and  her  companion  was  in  terror  all  night 
lest  some  of  the  students  should  have  concealed 
themselves  in  the  house.  This  experience  of 
Theresa  she  describes  graphically  in  a  letter 
written  to  her  spiritual  children  in  Avila:  — 

"  I  have  to  tell  you  one  thing,  my  sisters,  at  which 
I  am  ready  to  laugh  when  I  remember  it,  —  the  fears  of 
my  companion  Mary,  a  nun  older  than  myself.  She 
could  not  get  the  students  out  of  her  thoughts,  think- 
ing that  as  they  were  so  annoyed  at  having  to  quit 
the  house,  some  of  them  might  be  still  hiding  in  it. 
They  could  very  easily  do  it,  for  there  was  room 
enough.  We  shut  ourselves  up  in  a  room  where  there 
was  plenty  of  straw.  That  night  we  slept  on  this  straw, 
covered  by  two  blankets  that  had  been  lent  us.  When 
Sister  Mary  found   herself  shut  up  in  our  room,  she 


144 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


seemed  more  at  ease  about  the  students,  though  she 
did  nothing  but  look  alfout  her,  first  on  one  side,  and 
then  on  the  other ;  she  was  afraid,  and  Satan  must 
have  helped  her  to  imagine  dangers  for  the  purpose 
of  troubling  me,  for,  owing  to  the  weakness  of  the 
heart,  which  I  suffer,  very  little  is  enough  to  do  it.  I 
asked  her  what  she  was  looking  about  for.  She  re- 
plied, *  Mother,  I  was  thinking  if  I  were  to  die  now, 
what  would  you  do  all  alone.'  I  thought  it  would  be 
a  disagreeable  thing,  if  it  happened.  It  made  me 
dwell  on  it  for  a  moment,  and  even  to  be  afraid ;  for 
though  I  am  not  afraid  of  dead  bodies,  they  always 
cause  me  a  certain  faintness  even  when  I  am  not  alone. 
I  answered  her,  *  Sister,  when  that  shall  happen,  I  shall 
consider  what  I  shall  do ;  now,  let  iin;  go  to  sleep.'  '* 

What  a  strange  picture  this  letter  presents 
to  us,  —  an  empty  house,  wholly  out  of  repair, 
lately  occupied  by  a  group  of  Spanish  students 

who  had  left  it  redolent  of  the  fumes  of  their 

• 

filthy  orgies,  a  bare  cold  room  with  a  pallet  of 
straw,  on  which  lay  these  two  lonely,  nerv^ous 
women !  But  this  letter  reveals  to  us  painfully 
Theresa's  self- absorption,  which  must  have 
made  her  at  times  a  trying  travelling  com- 
panion.      From    the    expressions     of    childish 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLI 


145 


timidity  uttered  by  both  sisters,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  neither  woman  was  as  yet  freed  from 
all  traces  of  selfishness. 

It  is  interesting  to  think  of  the  little  group 
of  faithful  souls  in  Avila  as  they  read  their 
"  Mother's "  letters.  What  a  sensation  these 
breezy  epistles  must  have  created  in  that  quiet 
con\uni;  and  what  a  contrast  Theresa's  adven- 
turous experiences  must  have  been  to  the 
studied  monotony  of  their  life !  These  letters 
doubtless  furnished  food  for  reflection  for  many 
a  long,  quiet  hour. 

The  next  one  of  Theresa's  foundations  was 
at  Alba  dc  Tormcs ;  this  was  accomplished 
quickly,  and  she  hurried  from  there  to  Medina, 
where  some  trouble  had  arisen  about  the  elec- 
tion of  a  new  prioress.  Father  Angelo,  the 
Provincial,  was  at  this  time  a  little  displeased 
at  Theresa's  interference,  for  she  had  her  own 
views  on  the  subject  of  the  choice  of  prioress 
for  the  new  convent,  and  did  not  always  listen 
patiently  to  advice  from  her  superiors. 

The  apostolic  visitor  of  the  order  of  Mount 
Carmcl    was  then   in    Spain,    and    had    become 

lO 


146 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


much  interested  in  Theresa  and  her  work. 
While  in  Avila,  he  had  visited  the  lar^e  Convent 
of  the  Incarnation,  and  found  it  in  a  deplorable 
condition.  No  discipline  whatsoever  was  main- 
tained, and  many  of  the  inmates  spent  all  their 
time  paying  visits  outside  the  convent.  When 
the  apostolic  visitor,  Father  Hernandez,  found 
that  in  the  great  Convent  of  the  Incarnation 
affairs  were  in  a  wretched  state  of  disorder, 
while  in  the  Convent  of  St.  Joseph's  every- 
thing was  running  smoothly,  he  thought  he 
could  do  nothing  wiser  than  to  appoint  The- 
resa prioress  of  the  Incarnation,  hoping  that 
she  might  be  able  to  remodel  its  constitution, 
and  bring  order  out  of  the  confusion  and  an- 
archy he  had  found  there.  The  number  of  in- 
mates in  the  older  convent  had  fallen  off  con- 
siderably at  this  date,  and  those  who  remained 
frequently  asked  permission  to  reside  with  their 
families.  Indeed,  the  extreme  poverty  of  the 
sisters,  owing  to  the  waste  which  had  so  long 
been  carried  on  there,  made  it  nearly  impos- 
sible to  provide  them  with  the  nec^'^c^f''^^  of 
life;     even    the    regular    religious   observances 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLL 


147 


were  often  omitted  because  there  was  no  one 
who  had  any  authority  over  the  nuns. 

When  Theresa  heard  that  Father  Hernandez 
had  appointed  her  prioress  of  the  Incarnation, 
she  was  made  very  unhappy.  No  one  knew 
better  than  herself  the  wretched  condition  of 
affairs  temporal  and  spiritual  in  this  convent; 
and  she  knew  also  how  strongly  many  of  the 
inmates  would  oppose  her  nomination.  Her 
migration  to  the  Convent  of  St.  Joseph's  had 
been  a  tacit  reproach  to  the  sisters  of  the 
Incarnation,  and  they  were  unreasonably  op- 
posed to  all  the  regulations  of  the  Reformed 
Rule.  The  task,  then,  of  taking  hold  of  this 
convent  and  trying  to  improve  its  condition 
was  an  exceedingly  unpleasant  one  to  The- 
resa. But  she  was  wise  enough  to  foresee 
its  difficulties,  and  not  to  be  surprised  by 
the  storm  which  created  the  news  of  her 
nomination. 

In  the  first  place,  the  nuns  resented  the  inter- 
ference of  the  apostolic  visitor,  and  claimed  the 
right  of  electing  their  own  superior;  in  the 
second  place,   they  were  determined   to  guard 


148         SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

all  the  liberties  which  little  by  little  they  had 

managed  to  gain. 

When    the    day  arrived   for   Theresa   to   be 
installed,— for  she  was  obliged   to    accept   an 
appointment  made  by  the  apostolic  visitor,— 
Father  Angelo  accompanied  her  to  the  convent. 
All  the  religious  were  assembled  in  the  choir; 
and  when  the  act  of  the  visitor  was  read  to  them, 
it  was    evident,   from  the   noise  which   at  once 
arose,  that  they  had  arranged  a  concerted  course 
of  action.     A  number  stood  up  to  protest,  and 
abused  Theresa  with  unseemly  violence.     They 
declared  that  they  would  not  accept  any  superior 
whom  they  had  not  themselves  chosen,  and  that 
they  never  would  give  up  the  right  of  choice. 
The  provincial,  amazed  to  find  himself  treated 
with    so    much   disrespect,   became   angry,  and 
threatened   never   to   enter  the  convent  again; 
several  of  the  sisters  screamed  and  fainted,  and 
the   whole   scene  was  one  of  disgraceful  noise 
and  confusion.     One  or  two  of  the  sisters  pro- 
fessed  to    be   friendly  to  Theresa;    but  by  far 
the  larger  part  of  them  showed  open  signs  of 
rebellion.     The    Trovincial    insisted,    however, 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLI. 


149 


that  the  new  prioress  should  be  installed,  and 
then  went  away,  leaving  her  to  pour  oil  on  the 
troubled  waters  as  best  she  might. 

This  was  a  disheartening  position  for  Theresa 
to  find  herself  in ;  and  the  time  had  now  come 
for  her  to  exercise  all  her  tact  and  worldly 
wisdom.  How  would  she  ever  be  able  to  make 
her  new  charges  love  her?  And  what  a  wretched 
life  she  was  likely  to  lead  in  the  Incarnation 
unless  she  could  in  some  way  make  the  sisters 
give  up  their  prejudice  against  her  authority! 

On  the  first  chapter-day  it  was  expected  that 
the  new  prioress  would  demand  explanation  and 
apologies  from  the  unruly  sisters;  so  all  came, 
in  sullen  fear,  to  report  themselves.  But  what 
was  their  surprise,  when  they  entered  the  lower 
choir,  to  find  the  stall  usually  filled  by  the 
prioress  now  occupied  by  a  beautiful  statue  of 
the  Virgin  Mary.  At  the  feet  of  this  statue,  in 
a  most  humble  attitude,  sat  their  superior,  who, 
when  all  the  sisters  had  assembled,  read  them  a 
most  touching  address.  In  this  address  she  did 
not  complain  of  their  treatment  towards  her 
in  any   way,    and   she   made  no  claims   to   be 


ISO 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


worthy  of  their  respect.  She  did  not  even  force 
upon  them  any  new  rules ;  she  simply  told  them 
that  she  loved  them,  and  would  do  her  best  to 
make  them  happy. 

All  hearts  were  gained  by  this  masterly 
stroke  of  tact.  Angry  feelings  were  subdued, 
and  even  the  leaders  of  the  revolt  had  nothing 
to  say  against  Theresa's  opening  address.  But 
what  a  delicate  task  Theresa  still  had  before 
her  !  Every  one  of  her  movements  was  watched 
with  suspicion,  and  she  was  surrounded  by 
women  who  already  disliked  her,  and  would 
take  offence  at  the  first  exercise  of  her  author- 
ity. One  of  the  many  bad  habits  contracted 
by  the  nuns  was  that  of  receiving  "  indiscrimi- 
nate visits  in  the  parlor  from  gentlemen  of  the 
town."  This  pleasure  the  sisters  were  deter- 
niined  not  to  give  up,  and  the  gentlemen  from 
Avila  were  equally  determined  not  to  cjiscon- 
tinue.  One  of  these  gentlemen  Theresa  sent 
away  more  than  once,  but  he  persisted  press- 
ing his  attentions.  Finally,  he  met  Theresa  in 
the  parlor  and  addressed  her  in  terms  of  great 
insolence.      The   new  prioress  listened  to   him 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLL 


151 


I 


f 


silently,  but  in    some  way  made  him  feel  that 
"  Mother  Theresa  was  not  to  be  trifled  with ;  " 
for  after  this  interview  he  never  appeared  again. 
Little   by   little,   Theresa   made   changes   for 
the   better   in  the    regulations    of  the   convent. 
She  tried  a  system  of  rewards,  and  sometimes 
succeeded    in  winning  the  aff"ection  of  the  sis- 
ters  by   conferring   on   them   temporal  favors. 
When   she   began    her    work   in   the   convent, 
she  found  that  many  of  the  nuns  were  dressed 
in  rags,  and  had  almost  no  underclothes.     The- 
resa  succeeded,    however,    in  soliciting  money 
from    outside    friends,    and    by   prudence    and 
economy  within  the  convent  was  soon  enabled 
to   supply   one   with   a  habit,    another   with  a 
tunic,  and   all   with   an   ample  amount   of  the 
necessaries  of  life.      All  the  tact  and  business 
sagacity    in    the     world     would    have    availed 
no'thing  in  the  situation  in  which  Theresa  now 
found  herself,   without   the  charm  of  her   own 
presence.     Even  when  she  was  an  unattractive 
middle-aged  woman,  all  succumbed  to  the  rare 
fascination  of  her  personal  influence.    It  was  felt 
over  the  whole  convent.     Wonder  of  wonders, 


152  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

she  succeeded  in  making  the  hours  of  recrea- 
tion interesting,  without  introducing  gentleman 
visitors,  without  permitting  secular  music,  and 
without  allowing  silly  novels  to  be  read ! 

First,  the  wise  prioress  won  the  confidence  of 
the  nuns  individually  by  visiting  them  frequently 
in  their  cells  and  making  them  feel  her  affection 
for  them;  then  it  was  a  simple  matter  to  get 
their  collective  consent  to  her  new  measures. 

Among  the  many  changes  introduced  by 
Theresa  was  a  change  of  confessors.  It  was 
through  her  advice  that  Saint  John  of  the  Cross 
came  for  a  time  to  the  convent  and  built  him- 
self a  little  hermitage  in  the  garden  of  the 
Incarnation.  Here  he  led  the  same  lonely, 
austere  life  he  had  led  in  Durvelo,  and  only  left 
his  habitation  to  preach  to  or  confess  the  nuns. 
His  influence  over  the  convent  was  wonderfully 
inspiring.  We  are  told  that  he  differed  much 
from  their  former  spiritual  director,  and  also 
that  he  refused  "  to  receive  any  presents,  or 
have  any  favorites  among  the  nuns." 

The  Carmelite  Convent  of  the  Incarnation 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  receiving  young  girls 


THE  PRINCESS  EBOLL 


153 


\ 


as  pupils.  The  question  arose,  while  Theresa 
was  prioress,  as  to  whether  this  custom  should 
continue.  At  this  time  Theresa  evidently  dis- 
approved it;  for  she  writes  to  one  of  the  pro- 
vincials :  *'  I  tell  your  honor  that  so  many  girls 
and  so  much  clatter  is  by  no  means  well." 

As  we  study  the  prioress  Theresa,  we  are 
more  and  more  impressed  by  her  practical  wis- 
dom and  common-sense.  She  examined  each 
situation  which  arose  in  the  convent  life,  and 
chose,  after  much  forethought,  the  very  best 
course  of  action.  This,  for  a  woman  of  her  im- 
pressionable, emotional  temperament,  was  re- 
markable; for  executive  ability  is  very  rarely 
found  united  with  a  "  genius  for  religion." 
Worldliness  and  Other-worldliness  are  scarcely 
ever  combined  in  one  nature. 


IS4 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


V 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


HERESA   PRIORESS   OF  THE   INCARNATION. 


Theresa  remained  prioress  of  the  Incarnation 
nearly  two  years.  Under  her  rule  the  sisters 
turned  from  their  worldly  amusements  and 
devoted  themselves  anew  to  God.  They  all 
learned  to  love  their  new  prioress,  and  "  if  it 
had  depended  on  them,  they  never  would  have 
suffered  themselves  to  be  separated  from  her." 
We  find  recorded :  "  She  displayed  a  mascu- 
line prudence,  foreseeing  all  things,  and  regu- 
lating all  things  seasonably;  for  she  governed 
in  such  a  manner  that  she  by  no  means  com- 
pelled souls,  but  led  them  most  gently  whither 
she  would;  since  by  the  gentleness  of  her 
manners,  the  grace  of  her  actions,  the  charm 
of  her  conversation,  she  made  herself  so  lovely 
to  all  that  she  ruled  first  minds,  then  bodies, 
with    most    pleasant    sway.      She    studied   the 


= 


PRIORESS  OF   THE  INCARNATION.        155 

characters  of  all,  and  suited  herself  to  all  in 
a  manner  certainly  wonderful,  and  displayed  a 
gravity  combined  with  affability,  so  that  she 
was  equally  loved  and  honored  by  all;  which 
is  to  be  reckoned  as  a  proof  of  the  highest 

wisdom.'* 

Much  of  Theresa's  time  while  at  the  Incar- 
nation was  spent  in  correspondence  concerning 
her  different  foundations.  She  kept  constantly 
in  mind  the  sisters  of  St.  Joseph's,  and  cared  for 
all  its  concerns  as  faithfully  as  if  she  had  been 
living  there.  The  sisters  wrote  to  her  of  all 
their  joys  and  sorrows,  and  depended  on  her 
for  sympathy  and  advice. 

In  July,  1573,  Hernandez  ordered  the  prioress 
of  the  Incarnation  to  go  to  Salamanca,  where  the 
nuns  were  ill.  owing  to  the  unhealthy  condition 
of  their  house.     By  this  time,  Theresa  had  be- 
come   an  authority  in  practical   matters.      She 
was   accompanied  on  this  journey  by  Julian  of 
Avila,  and  writes:  ''  I  looked  at  the  house, that 
I  might  be  able  to  say  what  should  be  done  to 
it;   for  experience  had  taught  me  much  in  these 
matters."      The   house   proved  to  be   unfit  to 


156 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA, 


use ;  so  Theresa  bought  a  new  one,  and  had  a 
stormy  discussion  with  the  landlord  of  the  old 
one,   who   was   "  exceedingly  out   of  temper " 
at  losing  his  tenants.     The  unavoidable  delays 
which  occurred  during  the  moving  of  the  Sala- 
manca convent  detained  Theresa  there  several 
months.     The  sisters  themselves  were  so  ill  and 
weak  that  they  could  not  take  any  responsibility. 
About  this  time  the  apostolical  visitor  began 
to  object  to  any  more  new  foundations.     It  was 
comparatively  easy  to  begin  a  new  convent,  but 
difficult  to  keep  up  the  nuns'  enthusiasm,  and  to 
get  enough  money  to  provide  for  their  food  and 
clothing.      So  Hernandez  wrote  to  Theresa  at 
Salamanca,  telling  her  to  make  no  more  foun- 
dations at  present.     But  her  heart  was  set  upon 
making   a   new   foundation    in   the   city  of  Se- 
govia.    The  bishop  had  consented,  and  Theresa 
thought  the  opportunity  one  which  should  not 
be  neglected.      The  visitor  reluctantly  granted 
permission  ;  and  a  noble  lady  of  the  town,  Dofia 
Anna  de  Ximena,  took  the  house  and  provided 
all  necessaries  both  for  the  church  and  the  nuns, 
taking  the  habit  herself,  with  her  daughter,  and 


PRIORESS  OF   THE  INCARNATION.        157 


thus  giving  Theresa  '*  very  little  trouble  in  the 
matter."     There  was  still  opposition,  however, 
to  this  foundation.     The  vicar-general,  when  he 
heard  that  a  monastery  had  been  founded,  came 
at  once  in  great  wrath,  refused  to  allow  Mass  to 
be  said  in  it,  and  he  sought  to  imprison  Saint 
John   of  the   Cross   for   aiding   Saint  Theresa. 
But   in   spite  of  these   difficulties,  the   monas- 
tery of  Segovia  was  opened   March    19,   I574- 
The   vicar-gcneral  would  not  leave  the  church 
without  placing  a  constable  at  the  door,  and  a 
new  hue  and  cry  was    raised    against   the    Re- 
form.     After   a   few  weeks    this    was    quieted, 
and  the  nuns  were  left  alone,  with  half  a  dozen 
lawsuits  on  their  hands.     Theresa  writes :   *'VVe 
had    one    already  with    the    Franciscan   friars; 
about    another   house   we    had    to    go    to    law 
with   the    friars    of  the  order  for  the    Ransom 
of   Captives,    and   with    the    chapter   also.      O 
Jesus,  what    it    is    to   have    to    contend  against 
many  minds!"       The   first   serious   opposition 
which  arose  against  the  Reform  began  at  this 
time,  and  lasted  through  many  years.     A  lady 
from  Veas,  together  with  the  parish  priest  and 


I 


IS8 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA, 


several  other  persons,  wrote  Theresa,  asking 
her  to  go  to  that  place  and  found  a  monas- 
tery. Theresa  wrote  to  Hernandez,  who  replied 
that  he  did  not  wish  her  to  give  pain  to  the 
friends  of  the  new  order  by  refusing,  but  that 
he  was  quite  sure  a  foundation  at  Veas  would 
not  be  successful.  Theresa  had  already  be- 
come interested  in  the  foundress  of  the  new 
convent,  and  was  not  to  be  easily  discouraged 
from  carrying  out  her  plan.  The  name  of  the 
lady  from  Veas  was  Dona  Catalena  Godinez. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  noble  parents,  and 
until  the  age  of  fourteen  had  been  very  far 
from  contemplating  a  cloistered  life.  She  was 
distinguished  for  her  pride,  and  had  rejected 
several  offers  of  marriage  as  unworthy  of  her, 
saying  disdainfully,  "  How  little  satisfies  my 
father,  provided  I  marry  an  eldest  son !  I  in- 
tend that  my  family  shall  have  its  bemnninfr 
in  me."  But  in  spite  of  her  ambition.  Dona 
Catalena  dreaded  marriage,  even  with  a  part- 
ner who  should  meet  all  her  requirements  in 
family  and  fortune.  Several  times  she  said  that 
she  thought  it  ''  a  meanness  to  be  subject  to 


PRIORESS  OF  THE  INCARNATION.        159 

any  one."      At   last,  she  became   seriously  ill, 
and  on   her  recovery  was   seized  with   a  desire 
to  found  a  convent     She  had  plenty  of  money ; 
so  that  if  she  could  only  gain  her  parents'  con- 
sent, her  plan  could  easily  be  carried  out.     But 
her    parents    at    first    refused   to    consider   the 
proposition  as   a  serious  one.     She  then  spent 
three  years  besieging   them  for   their   consent, 
even  disfiguring  her  face  so  that  she  might  not 
be  attractive  to  her  suitors.     All  this  time  she 
practised    every  sort  of  severe  penance,   wear- 
ing her  father's  coat-of-mail  next  her  flesh  the 
whole  of  Lent.     At  last  her  health  gave  way, 
and  she  suffered  everything  from  the  hands  of 
ignorant  physicians.      *'  In  eight  years  she  was 
bled  more  than  five  hundred  times,  and  cupped 
so  often  that  the  marks  were  always  seen  on  her 
flesh.    Sometimes  salt  was  applied,  because  one 
of  the  physicians  told  her  that  this  remedy  was 
good    for   drawing   out   the    poisonous  humors 
which    caused  the  pain   in   her  side."     Finally, 
one    evening,  Dona   Catalena  went  to  bed  de- 
siring   to    discover   the    most   perfect   religious 
order  on   earth,  in  order  that   she   might  enter 


i6o 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


it.  She  dreamed  that  she  was  walking  alone 
a  very  narrow  path,  in  the  greatest  peril  from 
deep  precipices  which  lay  on  each  side  of  her, 
when  she  met  a  person  in  the  dress  of  a  Dis- 
calced  friar,  who  spoke  to  her,  saying,  "  Sister, 
come  with  me."  He  took  her  to  a  convent  in 
which  were  many  nuns ;  and  when  she  saw  no 
light  except  that  which  came  from  the  candles 
in  their  hands,  she  inquired  to  what  order  they 
belonged.  All  were  silent;  but  lifting  their 
veils,  they  smiled  and  showed  her  their  happy 
countenances.  The  prioress  took  her  by  the 
hand,  and  said,  **  My  child,  I  wish  you  to  be 
here,"  and  at  the  same  time  showed  her  the 
Rule  and  Constitution.  Vox  years  after  Catalena 
had  received  this  vision  she  sought  to  find  a 
religious  order  that  should  be  like  the  one  that 
had  been  revealed  to  her.  At  last,  a  Jesuit 
father  told  her  that  the  vision  she  had  received 
had  reference  to  the  new  Carmelite  Reformed 
order;  and  then  Dona  Catalena  wrote  to  The- 
resa at  once.  Undoubtedly  Theresa's  high- 
strung,  imaginative  nature  found  much  to  sym- 
pathize with  in  this  girl's  romantic  experiences. 


PRIORESS  OF  THE  INCARNATION,       l6l 

At  her  request,  she  went  to  Veas  directly,  and 
there,  while  busy  with  the  new  foundation,  she 
became   acquainted  with  Jerome  Gratian,  who 
was  to  have  a  great  influence  over  the  Reform. 
Jerome  Gratian  was  the  son  of  Don  Diego 
Gracian  de  Alderete,  who  had  been  secretary, 
first  to  Charles  V.,  and  then  to  Philip  II.     Of 
his  mother,  Theresa  writes :  "  I  have  known  few 
women  equal  to   her   in   excellence."     Jerome 
had  been   educated    by   the    Jesuits,    and   had 
hesitated   for  some  time  between  joining  their 
society  and  that  of  the  Reformed   Carmelites. 
He  had    at  first   feared   the  austerities   of  the 
Reformed  Carmelite  order;    but   after  visiting 
one  or  two  of  their  convents,  and  ''  beholding 
so  much  devotion  and  good-will  in  the  service 
of  our   Lord,"    he    determined   to    cast   in   his 
lot  with  them.      Father  Gratian  was  a  man  of 
courage   and  great   practical   sagacity,   but  he 
was  without   the  spirituality  of  Saint  John  of 
the  Cross.     He  was  handsome,  had  much  tact, 
and  a  remarkable  gift  for  organization.     Prob- 
ably the   ultimate  success  of  the  Reform  was 
due  in  large  part  to  his  having  these  talents, 

II 


1 62 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


and  to  Theresa's  perspicacity  in  recognizing 
them. 

In  March,  1573,  Father  Gratian  **  professed," 
and  although  then  only  thirty  years  old,  he  was 
appointed  visitor  of  Andalusia.  Theresa  writes 
in  her  customary  enthusiastic  way  to  the  prior- 
ess of  Medina  regarding  her  first  acquaintance 
with  him :  "  How  I  have  desired  that  you  should 
be  with  me  these  days !  Know  that  in  my 
opinion,  without  exaggeration,  they  have  been 
the  best  of  my  life!  The  father,  Master  Gra- 
tian, has  been  here  these  twenty  days.  I  tell 
you  that  although  I  have  seen  so  much  of  him, 
I  do  not  yet  understand  fully  the  value  of  this 
man.  In  my  eyes,  he  is  perfect.  Such  perfec- 
tion, with  so  much  sweetness,  I  have  never 
seen.  .  .  .  He  has  a  pleasing  address ;  so  much 
so  that  those  who  converse  with  him  come  to 
love  him  at  first  sight."  Theresa  wrote  to  an- 
other friend,  "  It  is  a  great  joy  to  me  to  see  so 
good  a  man  as  he  is." 

We  find  a  few  very  great  characters  com- 
plete in  themselves  and  acting  independently  of 
external  influences;   but  the  great  majority  of 


PRIORESS  OF  THE  INCARNATION,        1 63 


the  human  race  are  made  or  marred  by  those 
whose  conduct  and  talents  they  admire  and 
reverence.  Theresa's  character  was  not  a  self- 
reliant  one.  Strong  as  she  appeared  to  her 
weaker  sisters,  she  was  ready  to  vibrate  rcspon- 
sively  at  the  most  delicate  touch  of  those  she 
came  to  love  and  trust.  For  a  time.  Father 
Gratian  was  her  confessor,  and  she  gladly 
subjected  herself  to  his  guidance.  Later,  she 
learned  by  experience  that  he  was  not  to  be 
trusted  implicitly  in  all  things,  and  then  in  her 
turn  she  became  his  staff  and  guide.  When 
she  first  knew  him,  however,  his  will  was  law. 

Serious  troubles  between  the  friars  of  the 
Mitigated  rule  and  the  Reformed  Carmelites  had 
already  begun.  Disputes  had  arisen,  and  the 
Mitigated  friars,  alarmed  at  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  new  reform,  had  even  gone  so  far  as  to 
carry  the  discussion  between  the  two  orders  to 

Rome  itself 

Tetty  jealousies  between  religious  orders  were 
as  common  in  those  days  as  are  petty  jealousies 
between  rival  sects  to-day.  The  different  mo- 
nastic  orders   were    all    ambitious   and   selfish, 


1 64  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


working   for   the   glory  of  the   particular   part 
of  God's    kingdom    to    which   they   belonged, 
rather    than    for  the  grander  aim,    '*  Peace  on 
earth,  good  will  to  men.'*      Theresa,  disturbed 
at  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  Mitigated  order, 
sent  two  friars  to  represent  her  side  of  the  cause 
in  Rome,  while  Father  Gratian,  with  some  com- 
panions, started  for  Madrid  to  consult  the   king. 
Saint  John  of  the  Cross,  who  was  sent  on  an- 
other   important    mission,   was    seized    by    the 
Mitigated    friars    and    imprisoned    in   Toledo; 
and  a  few  months  later,  a  brief  arrived,  order- 
ing Theresa  to  retire  there,  and  subjecting  the 
entire  reform  to  the  Mitigated  rule.     This  was 
a  crushing  blow.     Even  Gratian  announced  that 
"all  was  over;"  for  to  have  the  Mitigated  Car- 
melites   given    power   to    control  the  affairs  of 
the  Reformed  orders  was  virtually  to  condemn 
the  Reform  to  oblivion. 

The  day  the  bad  news  came,  Theresa  was  so 
overcome  by  hearing  it  that  she  refused  to 
eat  anything  for  twenty-four  hours.  At  last, 
Anne  of  St.  Bartholomew  persuaded  her  to 
enter  the    refectory,  and  then,  according  to  a 


PRIORESS  OF  THE  INCARNATION.        1 65 

legend,  **  the  Lord  appeared  to  both  sisters, 
comforting  and  encouraging  them,  even  break- 
in<^  off  bits  of  bread  and  feeding  them  with  his 

own  hands." 

"  I  considered  myself  the  cause  of  the  whole 
tempest,"  Theresa  wrote  afterwards;  ''and  if 
they  had  thrown  me  into  the  sea  with  Jonah, 
the  storm  would  have  ceased."  The  morning 
after  the  discouraging  news  had  arrived,  The- 
resa wrote  to  the  king.  Her  letter  is  dated 
July  19.   1575  •  — 

"I  have  lived  for  forty  years  in  this  order,  and, 
reviewing  all  things,  I  cleariy  perceive  that  unless  the 
Discalced  soon  have  a  provincial  of  their  own,  great 
injury  will  arise,  nor  will  it  be  possible  for  the  reform 
to  last.  Therefore,  because  the  power  of  accomplish- 
ing this  lies  with  your  Majesty,  whom  I  perceive  to  be 
given  by  the  Blessed  Virgin  as  a  protector  of  our 
order,  I  have  taken  upon  myself  humbly  to  request 
the  same  from  your  Majesty  for  the  love  of  God  and 
of  His  Glorious  Mother." 

Soon  after  writing  this  letter,  Theresa  started 
for  Seville,  accompanied  by  six  companions, 
besides   Julian  of  Avila,  and  Antony  Gaytan. 


1 66 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 


This  journey  was  full  of  disasters.  Theresa  was 
attacked  with  a  violent  fever,  which  was  aggra- 
vated by  the  intense  heat,  and  the  whole  party 
narrowly  escaped  drowning  in  crossing  a  river. 
They  desired  to  reach  Cordova  early  in  the 
morning,  to  hear  Mass  quietly ;  but  when  they 
arrived,  they  found  the  church  crowded,  as  it 
was  a  local  feast-day.     Theresa  writes :  — 

"We  alighted  near  the  church,  and  though  none 
could  see  our  faces,  our  veils  being  down,  the  sight 
of  these  veils,  together  with  our  sandals  and  white  man- 
tles, was  enough  to  cause  curiosity  and  emotion  among 
all.  What  I  tell  you,  daughters,  miiy  seem  to  you  a 
mere  trifle,  but  to  me  it  was  one  of  the  severest  morti- 
fications of  my  life  ;  for  the  excitement  of  the  people 
at  the  sight  of  us  was  no  less  than  if  we  had  been  so 
many  bulls  driven  in  for  a  bull-fight." 

In  Spain,  a  country  filled  at  this  period  with 
enthusiastic  Catholics,  there  were  plenty  of  pow- 
erful people  who  knew  the  degraded  condition 
into  which  many  of  the  old  religious  orders 
had  declined.  It  was  an  open  secret  that  the 
inmates  of  these  convents  were  concealing  every 
kind  of  vice  under  their  religious  cloaks.     The 


PRIORESS  OF   THE  INCARNATION        1 6/ 

generals  of  these  lay  orders  had  become  less 
and  less  strict;  and  the  superiors  were  often 
chosen  because  of  their  good-natured  indiffer- 
ence to  the  conduct  and  character  of  the  insti- 
tutions. Reformers  of  these  corrupt  convents 
were  therefore  looked  upon  with  favor  by  the 
Catholic  laity,  though  they  were  always  vio- 
lently opposed  by  the  self-indulgent  clergy. 

The  hollow-eyed,  malignant  bigot,  Philip  II., 
was  not  at  first  inclined  to  give  his  approval  to 
the  institutions  of  the  Reformed  Carmelites. 
The  word  "  reform  "  had  come  to  be  associated 
with  the  "  Lutheran  pest "  in  his  narrow  mind ; 
and  he  dreaded  lest  that  contagious  disease 
should  take  permanent  hold  in  Spain.  It  was 
only  by  keeping  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisition 
and  the  autos-da-fd  perpetually  before  the 
people,  that  he  succeeded  in  killing  the  seeds 
which  the  great  German  heretic  had  sown  so 
widely  abroad.  But  Theresas  humble  obedience 
to  the  Roman  Church,  and  her  growing  reputa- 
tion for  sanctity,  added  greatly  to  the  influence 
of  her  letters  on  the  king.  After  considerable 
delay,  in  which  PhiUp  consulted  the  officers  of 


i68 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA, 


the  Inquisition,  the  king  finally  declared  that  the 
Reform  of  Saint  Theresa  should  be  maintained, 
and  that  the  Discalced  and  Mitigated  should  be 
permitted  to  live  separately,  and  to  be  governed 
by  superiors  of  their  own  choosing.  This  last 
favor  was  one  which  Theresa  had  been  trying 
to  gain  for  several  years,  and  great  was  her  joy 
at  the  triumph  of  her  cause.  The  long  dispute 
between  the  two  orders  was  ended,  and  the 
reformers  could  now  go  on  with  their  work  in 
peace. 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS, 


169 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS. 


During  the  stormy  period  of  the  reform 
recorded  in  the  last  chapter,  the  new  monas- 
teries had  been  left  without  much  oversight, 
and  Theresa  found  them  in  great  need  of  super- 
vision. Saint  John  of  the  Cross,  we  remember, 
was  imprisoned  in  a  Mitigated  Carmelite  monas- 
tery in  Toledo,  while  Gratian  was  deprived  of 
all  his  power  for  months.  Saint  John  was  con- 
fined in  a  very  small  cell,  the  door  of  which 
was  kept  locked.  He  suffered  fearfully  from 
the  heat  and  bad  air,  and  seemed  to  be  gradu- 
ally dying ;  but  nothing  moved  his  superiors  to 
release  him.  One  day  he  examined  a  window  in 
the  corridor,  and  a  few  nights  later,  finding  his 
door  left  unlocked  by  accident,  tore  the  cover- 
let of  his  bed  into  strips,  and  thus  making  a 
rope,  succeeded  in  letting  himself  down,  and  in 


170 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


time  found  refuge  in  a  Discalced  convent  of 
nuns,  where  he  remained  in  conceahnent  until 
the  troubles  between  the  rival  orders  ccasetl. 
It  is  said  that  a  brilliant  and  marvellous  light 
guided  him  to  this  place  of  safety. 

No  sooner  had  the  persecutions  from  without 
ceased,  than  the  reformers  were  obliged  to  turn 
their  attention  to  troubles  within  the  new  con- 
vents. Alas !  the  Perfect  Rule  had  failed  in 
maintaining  the  conduct  of  all  the  new  convents 
at  the  desired  level.  The  convent  in  Seville  had 
been  founded  in  the  midst  of  serious  difficul- 
ties; and  after  Theresa  had  left  it  in  May,  1575, 
a  young  and  inexperienced  confessor  had  been 
allowed  to  hear  the  confessions  of  the  sisters. 
This  had  led  to  serious  troubles ;  for  the  young 
man,  —  to  put  the  mildest  interpretation  upon 
his  conduct,  —  had  been  exceedingly  imprudent. 
His  name  was  Garcia  Alvarez,  and  he  became 
very  intimate  with  the  young  novices,  spending 
several  hours  daily  in  hearing  their  confessions 
and  conversing  in  the  confessional.  These  pro- 
longed tete-a-ietc  confessional  flirtations  were  al- 
ways disapproved  by  Theresa.    Her  wisdom  and 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS. 


171 


practical  experience  had  taught  her  the  un- 
healthy fascination  of  this  kind  of  intercourse, 
and  in  arranging  the  constitution  for  the  Re- 
formed orders  she  had  done  her  best  to  guard 
against  it. 

The  prioress  at  Seville  also  knew  the  danger- 
ous tendencies  of  these  long  talks  between  the 
young  novices  and  the  young  priest.  After  re- 
peated reproofs  to  Garcia  Alvarez  she  finally 
interfered,  and  had  the  youthful  confessor  dis- 
missed. At  this  the  sisters,  who  were  devoted 
to  their  confessor,  were  furious  with  the  prioress, 
and  spread  all  sorts  of  scandalous  stories  about 
her  through  the  entire  town.  Some  enemies  of 
the  Reform  had  the  young  man  reinstated  and 
the  prioress  herself  deposed,  putting  a  young 
and  giddy  nun  in  her  place.  The  result  of  this 
act  was  to  make  the  convent  a  perfect  nest  of 
scandal  and  dissensions. 

The  chief  cause  of  all  this  trouble  was  a  gay, 
light-headed  nun  named  Beatrix.  Her  personal 
attractions  must  have  been  great,  as  Father 
Gratian,  who  had  himself  directed  her  to  the 
order,  frankly  confessed  that  he  heard  her  con- 


\^2         SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

fessions  with  difficulty,  "  on  account  of  her 
youth  and  beauty."  Theresa  implied  that  she 
had  better  be  labelled  **  Dangerous,"  and  wrote 
to  Father  Gratian  "  to  take  care  about  her.'* 

The  tumult  in  this  convent  was  finally  quelled, 
and  Theresa  appointed  Isabella  of  St.  Jerome 
prioress.      Beatrix  was  considered  to  be  under 
the  immediate  influence  of  the  Devil,  and  there- 
fore irresponsible  for  her  persistent  bad  conduct. 
Nowhere  does  Theresa  show  more  evidence  of 
her  wisdom  and  tact  than  in  the  advice  she  gave 
the  young  sisters  at  Seville,  after  this  trouble. 
She  told  them  "  not  to  speak  among  themselves 
much  of  what  has  passed,  as  it  can  be  of  no 
advantage,    and    may   do    great   harm."      The 
whole  affair  was  disgraceful,  and  of  course  did 
the   Reform   an   injury.     Beatrix   was    carefully 
watched  for  fear  she  should  run  away  from  the 
convent,  and  an  older  and  wiser  confessor  was 
in  future  given  the  care  of  the  young  novice's 
spiritual  health. 

About  the  time  of  these  internal  and  external 
annoyances,  Theresa  heard  that  her  brother 
Lorenzo  was  on  his  way  home  from  the  New 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS, 


173 


World.  His  wife  had  died  there,  and  he  re- 
turned with  three  children.  One  of  them,  the 
pretty  little  Teresita,  became  her  aunt  Theresa's 
particular  pet  and  darling.  At  the  early  age  of 
twelve  the  child  expressed  a  desire  to  become  a 
Carmelite,  and  there  are  frequent  references  to 
her  as  "  a  little  angel,"  in  her  aunt's  letters. 

During  the  last  years  of  Theresa's  life  her  cor- 
respondence was  voluminous.  She  complains 
of  it  to  Gratian,  saying,  "  It  is  killing  me."  Her 
letters  to  her  brother  Lorenzo  are  gay  and  fa- 
miliar, full  of  flashes  of  wit  and  daring  sallies  of 
humor.  At  one  time  she  sends  Lorenzo  a  hair 
shirt,  and  begs  him  not  to  wear  it  more  than 
once  a  week,  and  to  take  it  off  when  it  brings 
blood.  Then  she  adds,  '*  Do  not  forget  to  write 
and  tell  me  how  you  get  on  with  this  little  play- 
thing." Lorenzo  sends  his  sister  money,  bon- 
bons, and  presents.  It  diverts  Theresa  that  she 
should  return  his  kindness  by  sending  him  in- 
struments of  penance.  Little  Teresita,  with  the 
childish  instinct  of  imitation,  also  demands  some 
instruments  of  torture,  and  her  aunt  sends  the 
little  girl  a  discipline  and  a  small-sized  hair  shirt 


174 


SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 


too.  To  play  at  being  a  nun  was  quite  as  fas- 
cinating to  a  child  who  lived  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  as  to  play  at  being  any  other  kind  of  a 
"  grown-up  lady ;  "  but  there  is  something  at 
once  pathetic  and  revolting  in  thinking  of  the 
little  Teresita  amusing  herself  innocently  with  a 
hair  shirt  before  she  had  even  tasted  the  natural 
pleasures  of  youth. 

There  still  exist  many  letters  of  Theresa, 
written  at  this  time  to  the  prioresses  of  the 
various  convents.  In  one  of  these  convents  a 
new  kind  of  mortification  had  been  introduced. 
This  consisted  in  the  superior's  giving  an  order 
to  one  nun  to  give  a  sudden  buffet  —  or  slap  in 
the  face  —  to  another.  Theresa  did  not  approve 
of  this  proceeding,  and  wrote  that  the  nuns  were 
not  to  be  treated  in  such  a  manner.  *'  They 
are  not  slaves,  and  mortification  is  only  to  serve 
for  advancement  in  good." 

Another  complaint  Theresa  makes  is  against 
"  learned  nuns."  "  Heaven  preserve  my  nuns 
from  being  Latinists,"  she  writes.  It  was  her  dis- 
approval of  learning  which  kept  her  Mysticism 
and  her  projects  for  reform  within  the  narrow 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS. 


175 


borders  of  the  Roman  Church.  Obedience  to 
the  Church  she  urged  as  the  first  duty  of  a 
Catholic.  She  never  countenanced  any  claim  to 
the  right  of  private  judgment. 

Some  amusing  passages  in  Theresa's  letters 
relate  to  the  characters  of  Teresita  and  Isabella, 
a  younger  sister  of  Gratian.  Mary  of  St. 
Joseph's  wrote  to  her  comparing  the  two  chil- 
dren. Theresa  replied  that  if  Isabella  had  the 
natural  graces  of  Teresita,  they  might  expect 
great  things  of  her.  "  The  girl  has  some  poor 
little  images  of  shepherds  and  nuns,  and  one  of 
Our  Lady,  and  not  a  feast-day  comes  but  she 
invents  something  pretty  for  recreation.  She 
makes  verses,  too,  and  sings  them  nicely."  One 
defect  which  Theresa  notes  in  her  niece  is  "  a 
bad,  lumpish  mouth,"  and  yet  she  says  that  she 
was  **  always  laughing."  *'  To  be  sure  it 's  not 
her  fault,  but  her  mouth's,"  she  writes.  We  see 
from  this  that  Theresa  disliked  the  sisters  to  have 
any  physical  defects.  If  possible,  she  wished 
them  to  be  perfect  specimens  of  womanhood. 

In  choosing  new  novices,  Theresa  was  always 
careful  to  choose  girls  who  were  well  and  strong, 


176  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

and  of  cheerful,  sanguine  temperaments.  She 
wrote  facetiously  to  one  of  the  friars  who  had 
recommended  two  novices  to  her  from  seeing 
them  only  once.  ''  So  you  think  you  could  tell 
these  young  persons  had  vocations  by  merely 
looking  at  their  faces !  ...  We  are  not  so  easy  to 
know ;  and  many  have  heard  the  confessions  of 
women  for  years  and  never  known  their  char- 
acters at  all,  because  they  have  only  what  they 
have  told  of  themselves  in  confession  to  judge 

from." 

Soon  after  the  scandalous  conduct  of  Beatrix 
in  the  Seville  convent,  Theresa  is  said  to  have 
received  a  celebrated  revelation,  or  charter,  for 
the  use  of  her  Reformed  convents.  According 
to  the  credulous  spirit  of  the  age,  this  charter 
was  thought  to  be  the  result  of  a  supernatural 
revelation ;  but  from  our  study  of  the  document 
we  see  no  evidence  to  cause  us  to  believe  that 
it  did  not  come  directly  from  the  brain  of  the 
clear-headed  woman  who  had  given  so  much  of 
her  best  thought  to  furthering  the  interests  of 
the  Reform.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  however, 
a  woman's  word  stood  for  little  unless  it  claimed 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS, 


177 


to  be  guided  by  Deity.  Now  undoubtedly  The- 
resa's life  was  directed  by  God,  and  her  highest 
thoughts  came  to  her  from  Him,  —  but  through 
natural,  we  should  say,  and  not  supernatural 
channels.  Those  who  live  in  this  nineteenth 
century  have  learned  to  regard  human  souls  as 
holding  within  themselves  limitless  possibilities. 
In  some  mysterious  way  through  them  God 
speaks  now,  and  spoke  in  Theresa's  time  as 
well.  That  the  imaginative  Spaniards  chose  to 
materialize  His  **  still  small  voice"  ought  not 
to  surprise  us;  for  we  must  constantly  recall 
the  fact  that  the  whole  Spanish  mind  stood  in 
an  attitude  of  expectancy  towards  the  Heav 
enly  Powers. 

The  rules  said  to  have  been  revealed  to  The- 
resa for  the  use  of  her  convents  were  wonder- 
fully practical,  apparently  the  direct  result  of 
her  own  personal  experience. 

The  first  one  was,  that  all  superiors  should  be 
of  one  mind,  and  in  harmony  among  themselves. 

The  second,  that  though  they  were  to  have 
many  monasteries,  the  number  of  friars  and  nuns 
in  the  different  monasteries  should  be  very  small. 

12 


1 78  SAINT  THERESA  OF  A  VILA. 

The  third,  that  they  should  converse  as 
rarely  as  possible  with  secular  persons,  and 
then  only  for  the  good  and  salvation  of  their 

souls. 

The  fourth,  that  they  should  teach  more  by 
deeds  than  words.  This  teaching  by  deeds 
Theresa  emphasized  strongly.  Occasionally,  in 
looking  over  her  letters  to  the  different  prior- 
esses, we  come  across  one  or  two  sentences  in 
which  she  shows  some  temper;  but  usually 
her  own  conduct  is  irreproachable.  We  quote 
from  one  severe  letter  written  to  Mary  of  St. 
Joseph's,  who  had  declined  to  be  reappointed 
to  the  office  of  prioress,  from  which  she  had 
been  deposed:  — 

"  Pray  leave  off  these  booby-bits  of  perfection !  We 
have  all  been  working  for  and  desiring  this,  and  here 
are  you  with  all  your  nonsense,  for  it  is  nothing  else. 
It  is  not  alone  your  concern,  but  the  concern  of  the 
whole  order.  If,  then,  God  grant  us  this  favor,  hold 
your  tongue  and  obey,  or  you  will  annoy  me  much." 

After  the  unfortunate  experience  in  Seville, 
Theresa  was  very  careful  not  to  allow  much  in- 
tercourse between  the  "  nuns  and  clerics." 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS. 


179 


**  I  am  very  sure,"  she  writes,  "  that  even 
though  they  be  saints,  it  is  better  in  our  con- 
vents to  have  little  intercourse  between  them. 
Even  if  it  be  Paul  himself  (Gratian),  it  is  better 
to  have  little  of  it  except  in  the  pulpit." 

Theresa  remained  a  long  time  in  Seville, 
and  there  had  little  Teresita  with  her.  The 
child  became  the  "familiar  spirit"  of  the  con- 
vent, and  Theresa  writes :  "  There  is  something 
really  angelic  in  her  disposition ;  she  enlivens 
our  recreations  by  her  wonderful  tales  of  the 
Indians  and  the  sea,  and  she  tells  them  much 
better  than  I  could  do  myself"  It  is  pleasant 
to  think  of  this  pretty,  vivacious  child  relieving 
the  monotony  of  this  rigid,  gloomy  convent 
life  !  When  only  twelve  years  old,  Teresita  put 
on  the  white  Carmelite  gown  and  veil ;  and 
what  a  picture  she  must  have  made  running 
about  the  bare  convent  rooms !  She  was  so 
much  beloved  by  all  the  sisters  in  every  con- 
vent where  she  stayed,  that  we  find  Theresa 
altering  her  mind  about  the  habit  of  admitting 
young  girls.  *'  I  tell  you  that  these  little  angels 
edify  us  and  give  us   recreation,  and  I  see   no 


l80  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA. 

inconvenience,  but  the  reverse,  in   our  having 

one  in  every  house." 

Among  the  many  amusing  customs  which  we 
find  noted  in  the  old  monastic  records  is  the 
habit  the  sisters  had  of  signing  themselves  by 
extraordinary  pseudonyms.  For  instance,  Sis- 
ter Jeronina,  in  writing  to  Theresa,  signs  herself 
^'  Dunghill."  Theresa  answers  that  she  hopes 
her  humility  is  not  all  in  word. 

A  festival  was  usually  made  of  the  day  when 
a  new  prioress  was  elected ;  and  we  find  Theresa 
complaining   in   one   letter   that   ''she    had   no 
carols  sent  her  on  the  occasion  of  one  of  the 
elections  at  Seville."      She  likes  the  nuns,  she 
writes,  "  to  have  a  moderate  amount  of  fun  at 
such   a  time."     The   first  few   years   after  the 
troubles  between  the   t^vo  orders  were  settled, 
very    few    new    convents    were    founded;    but 
Theresa   found    enough   to    do   travelling  from 
one    convent   to    another,  pointing   out  defects 
in   their   management,  or  suggesting   improve- 
ments in  their  methods  of  daily  living.      Sev- 
eral  letters    came   from    a   small    place    called 
Villanucva    de    la    Jara,    begging    Theresa  to 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS. 


I8l 


start   a   new   convent    there;    but   she   refused 
at  first  to  attempt  the  work,  knowing  that  the 
place  was  small  and  the  house  for  the  convent 
worth   very   little.      She  understood,   too,   that 
the  women  who  wished  to  found  the  new  con- 
vent  had    already  been    living    together   many 
years,  and  would  therefore  form  a  majority  of 
the  inmates.     Theresa  feared  that  with  the  best 
intentions  in  the  world  these  women  might  be 
difficult  to  train  in  new  ways.    There  were  seven 
of  them  who  had  been  living  together  for  years, 
and  now  the  whole   population  desired  that  a 
Carmelite  convent   should    be    founded    in   the 
hermitage  beside  which  they  lived.     For  a  long 
time  Theresa  hesitated  to  grant  their  request. 
"  It  seemed  to  her  too  much  like  sewing  a  piece 
of  new  cloth  on  an  old  garment;"  but  at  last, 
after  receiving  many  urgent  appeals,  she  started 
for  Villanueva,  accompanied  by  two  nuns  from 
the  convent  in  Toledo  and  two  from  Malagon. 
The  journey  was  made  in  pleasant  weather,  and 
Theresa  s  own  health  was  unusually  good.     The 
whole  population  of  the  little  town  turned  out 
to  meet  her.     "When  we  were  yet  far  away, 


1 82         SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

we  heard  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  on  our  enter- 
in<T  the  church  they  began  the  Te  Deum.  That 
done,  they  carried  the  Holy  Sacrament  on  a 
bier,  and  on  another,  Our  Lady,  with  crosses 
and  banners.  The  procession  moved  on  with 
great  pomp ;  we  in  our  white  mantles,  and  faces 
veiled,  in  the  midst."  After  this  complimentary 
welcome,  Theresa  and  her  four  companions- 
sought  out  the  hermitage,  and  the  seven  patient 
nuns  who  had  so  long  been  waiting  for  them. 

We  quote  her  own  quaint  description  of  the 
meeting :  — 

"  When  we  entered  the  house,  Ihcy  were  standing  at 
the  door  within,  each  of  them  dressed  as  usual ;  for 
they  were  dressed  as  they  were  when  they  first  came, 
and  would  never  put  on  any  religious  dress,  hoping 
for  ours.     What  they  wore,  however,  was  most  modest, 
and   showed   plainly    how    little    thought    they    had 
taken  for  themselves.     They  were  so  poorly  clad,  and 
almost  all  of  them  so  thin,  as  to  show  that  they  had 
been   living  a  most  penitential  Ufe.     Most   of  their 
time  had  been  spent  in  saying  the  Divine  Office,  which 
was  not  an  easy  task,  as  only  one  of  the  little  number 
could  read  well,  and  they  said  very  Uttle  which  was 
correct." 


REBELLIOUS  NUNS. 


183 


While  in  Villanueva,  Theresa  met  with  an  ac- 
cident,  which   detained  her  there   longer  than 
she  had  expected.     One  of  the  greatest  incon- 
veniences of  the  house  was  the  depth   of  the 
well  from  which  they  had  to  draw  water.     The- 
resa, in  order  to  make  the  task  easier,  had  a 
wheel  put  up,  with   ropes  and  pulleys;    but  a 
workman  having  neglected  to  fasten  the  rope, 
the  wheel  fell  violently  on  her  arm  and  broke 
it.     This  accident,  the  second  which  had  hap- 
pened to  Theresa  in  one  year,  caused  her  much 
suffering,  and  kept  her  away  from  her  work  for 
several  months.      It  seemed   to  be  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end ;   for  from  Villanueva,  Theresa 
went  to    Toledo,  and    there   was    immediately 
prostrated  by  a  paralytic  stroke,  which  at  her 
advanced  age— she  was  now  over  sixty —  made 
her  condition  very  critical. 


1 84 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE   BEGINNING   OF  THE   END. 

Theresa's  illness  at  Toledo  left  her  in  a  wretch- 
edly weak  state  of  nerves  and  body.     She  par- 
tially recovered  the  use  of  her  limbs,  but  for 
weeks  was  confined  to  her  room,  and  obliged  to 
carry  on  her  work  wholly  by  means  of  her  pen. 
She  had  accomplished  an   immense  amount  of 
active  work  since  she  had  passed  her  sixtieth 
birthday;    for   she   had    been   travelling    inces- 
santly in  uncomfortable  conveyances  in  all  sorts 
of  weather  for  years.    From  one  city  to  another, 
between    Medina   and   Valladolid,   Toledo   and 
Salamanca,  Seville  and  Segovia,  she  had  made 
pilgrimages,  overcoming  with  her  own  strength 
of  will  obstacles  of  all  kinds  ;   poverty  and  illness 
being  the  smallest  hindrances  to  her  work.    She 
had  indeed  put  into  practice    her  own  famous 
motto,  '*  Ou  souffrir  ou  mourir !  " 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  END.       1 85 

All   through  her    illness    her  interest    in  the 
reform    continued,   and  she   wrote  advising  the 
fathers  and  the  sisters  about  the  smallest  details. 
In  a  letter  to  Father  Gratian  we  find  her  warn- 
ing him  not  to  make  an  occasion  for  "  tattling  " 
by  "eating  in  the  convents  ;  "  and  the  prioresses 
are  told  over  and  over  again  to  avoid  any  and 
every   occasion    for    scandal.       Early   in    June, 
Theresa  was  able  to  make  the  journey  to  Se- 
govia, but  it  was   a  journey  fraught  with    pain 
and  discomfort.     Father  Jerome  Gratian  accom- 
panied her,  and  was  with  her  when   she  heard 
the  sad   news  of  her  brother  Lorenzo's  death. 
There  was  much  to  be  done  in  arranging  Lo- 
renzo's business  affairs  during  the  next  months. 
His  daughter,  little  Tercsita,  was  left  entirely  to 
her  aunt's  care,   and  at  first  Theresa  hoped  to 
make  her  nephew  Francis  a  Reformed  friar.    The 
young  man,  however,  objected  to  being  disposed 
of  by  his  aunt,  and  preferred  to  marry  a  pretty 
and  well-born  Castilian  girl.    This  marriage  The- 
resa disapproved,  and  for  a  long  time  the  affairs 
of  her  nephew  and  the  necessary  division  of  the 
property  occupied  her  entire  time. 


1 86 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 


A  letter  to  the  prioress  at  Alba  de  Tormes, 
written  at  this  period,  insists  on  the  strict  ad- 
herence of  the  nuns  to  the  rule  of  being  veiled 
when  they  talk  to  externs.    Confessors,  Theresa 
thinks,  had  best  see  the  sisters  veiled  ;  and  all  the 
novices  were  to  be  made  to  appear  alike,  so  as 
to  avoid  the  possibility  of  confessional  flirtations. 
A  remarkable  letter,  written  while  Theresa  was 
ill,  is  addressed  to  a  nun  of  another  order,  who 
desired  to  enter  one  of  the  Reformed  convents. 
This  was  against  the  rules  of  the  new  order,  as 
Theresa  wrote  to  her;  but  she  added  that  she 
herself    lived    twenty-five    years   in   a   convent 
with  eighty  or  one  hundred  nuns,  and  ends  her 
letter  with  this  tender  word  of  encouragement, 
"  Senora  mia,  after  all,  we  are  able  to  love  this 
great  God  anywhere." 

A  quaint  note  of  thanks  written  to  the  Prior- 
ess Anne,  of  the  Incarnation,  shows  us  the  kind 
of  presents  which  passed  between  the  pious  sis- 
ters. "  May  His  Majesty  repay  her  for  the  limes 
she  has  sent  her,  and  the  veil  too,  for  the  one 
she  had  was  too  high,"  is  a  proof  that  material 
benefits  were  not  always  unwelcome.     Another 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  END.       1 8/ 


quite    severe   letter   we   find  addressed   to   the 
nuns  of  St.  Joseph's  at  Avila.     Since  Theresa 
had  left  them  they  had  fallen  from  grace,  be- 
gun to  grumble  at  the  hardships  of  their  life, 
and  to  ask  for  more  indulgences.      Mother  The- 
resa was  horrified  at  the  request  that  they  all 
might   eat  meat.      Another  petition    made   by 
them  was,  that  those  nuns  who  were  in  feeble 
health  might  keep   something  in  their  cells  to 
eat  whenever  they  were  hungry.      We  see  by 
these  requests  that  the  flesh  did  rebel  occasion- 
ally  against  the   harsh   treatment   imposed   by 
Theresa.     "  Your  Reverence,"  writes  Theresa  to 
Gratian,  "  the  things  demanded  by  the  religious 
of  Avila  are  such  that  if  they  were  granted  there 
would  be  little  difference  between  them  and  the 
nuns  of  the  Incarnation.     I  am  amazed  to  see 
what  the  Devil  has  done  already ;  "  and  she  adds 
with  characteristic  inconsistency,  "  It  is  the  con- 
fessor who  is  almost  wholly  at  fault." 

Theresa's  letters  fill  four  large  volumes,  and 
are  extremely  interesting  reading.  They  are 
addressed  to  archbishops  and  bishops,  to  able 
statesmen    like    Diego    de    Mendoza,    and    to 


i88 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VI LA, 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  END.      1 89 


women  in  every  rank  of  life.  Many  of  them 
are  purely  spiritual,  devoted  entirely  to  the 
things  of  the  soul ;  but  they  have  a  grace  and 
charm  of  style  which  makes  Ticknor  claim  for 
them  "  a  distinguished  place  in  the  epistolary 
literature  of  Spain."  Besides  her  letters,  Theresa 
wrote  her  autobiography,  the  "  Book  of  Foun- 
dations,'* and  two  books,  entitled  "  The  Way 
of  Perfection  "  and  "  The  Interior  Castle."  This 
last  work  was  written  in  Toledo,  in  1577.  It  is 
full  of  fancies,  and  obscure  in  many  parts;  but 
it  contains  occasional  beautiful  and  poetical 
passages,  which  are  like  the  writings  of  the  so- 
called  Transcendental  philosophers.  She  also 
wrote  the  '*  Manner  of  Visiting  Monasteries  of 
Nuns,"  and  her  celebrated  *'  Constitution." 
Besides  these  works,  she  was  the  author  of 
seventeen  short  "  Exclamations  of  the  Soul  to 
God,"  to  use  after  Communion.  The  phi- 
losopher Leibnitz  is  said  to  have  admired  her 
writings,  and  there  is  much  in  them  which  ap- 
peals to  the  student  of  poetry  and  metaphysics. 
Her  acute  study  of  her  own  mental  condition, 
and  her  division  of  the  interior  life  of  the  soul 


( 


into  four  mansions,  is  certainly  a  marvellous,  if 
bewildering,  piece  of  self-analysis.  Besides  these 
prose  works,  Theresa  wrote  several  beautiful  re- 
ligious poems.  The  only  one  which  is  widely 
known  has  for  its  refrain,  "  Que  muero  porque 
no  muero." 

One  interesting  letter  written  by  Theresa  in 
the  last  year  of  her  life  reveals  to  us  the  inward 
peace  which  came  to  her  through  her  outward 
activity.  In  her  youth  she  had  yearned  unceas- 
ingly to  find  rest  for  her  soul,  and  to  be  as- 
sured that  she  was  leading  her  life  in  harmony 
with  the  Divine  Will.  But  this  consciousness 
came  to  her  only  in  the  latter  part  of  her  career. 
Then  her  days  were  filled  with  positive  work 
and  necessary  duties,  leaving  her  no  time  to 
doubt  and  question,  and  requiring  for  per- 
formance all  her  strength. 

**  Would  that  I  could  convey  to  your  lord- 
ship," she  writes  to  her  confessor,  "  the  quiet 
and  consolation  which  fill  my  soul !  It  has 
such  a  certainty  that  it  is  to  possess  God.  The 
imaginary  visions  have  ceased,  and  this  interior 
peace  which    continues,  neither   pleasures    nor 


IQO 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE  END.      IQI 


pains  are  able  to  disturb.  I  only  want  to  be 
satisfied  that  I  am  going  on  rightly,  and  if  I 
can  do  anything  for  God." 

After  hearing  of  the  backsliding  at  St. 
Joseph's  Convent,  Theresa  determined  to  go 
thither  at  once.  Old  and  infirm  as  she  was,  she 
accepted  the  position  of  prioress,  and  soon  suc- 
ceeded in  setting  both  the  temporal  and  the 
spiritual  matters  right.  This,  the  last  visit  The- 
resa made  in  Avila,  the  home  of  her  childhood, 
was  a  very  sad  one.  Her  old  friends  and  kin- 
dred had  all  passed  away,  yet  everything  sug- 
gested the  memory  of  her  younger  days.  The 
loneliness  of  the  place  depressed  Theresa  more 
than  ever  before,  and  it  took  a  great  deal  of 
moral  courage  to  enable  her  to  do  her  duty 
and  carry  on  her  work.  In  January,  1582,  she 
left  Avila,  and,  accompanied  by  Father  Gratian 
and  three  sisters,  bade  farewell  to  St.  Joseph's, 
and  started  for  Burgos.  The  weather  was  very 
bad,  and  Theresa  suffered  from  a  severe  inflam- 
mation of  the  throat.  As  they  proceeded  on 
their  journey  the  roads  grew  worse  and  worse 
on  account  of  floods,  and  Father  Gratian  had 


sometimes  to  alight  and  drag  the  carriage 
through  the  mud.  The  river  Alan^on  had 
swollen,  and  at  a  place  called  *'  The  Bridges  " 
had  entirely  hidden  the  track.  At  one  place 
all  were  discouraged ;  but  Theresa,  despite  her 
years,  stepped  from  her  carriage,  told  the  rest 
of  the  party  to  follow  her,  and  marched  ahead 
through  mud  and  water,  assured  by  faith  that 
"  all  would  be  well." 

After  this  and  other  terrible  experiences  the 
party  at  length  reached  Burgos.  There  were 
some  difficulties  in  the  way  of  starting  the  new 
foundation  there;  but  at  last  a  suitable  house 
was  found,  and  all  entered  the  new  convent. 
The  city  of  Burgos  was  built  on  the  river 
Alanqon,  and  the  house  that  was  taken  for  the 
Reformed  convent  was  built  outside  the  city, 
on  the  bank  of  the  river.  At  times  the  waters 
raeed  with  such  violence  that  the  house,  which 
was  very  old,  shook  as  if  it  were  about  to  fall. 
Once  the  river  swelled  to  such  a  degree  that 
the  waters  reached  the  first  floor,  and  the  devout 
sisters  were  obliged  to  carry  the  Sacrament  on 
to  the  roof  of  the  house.     This  was  the  habita- 


/ 


192 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 


i 


tation  and  these  were  some  of  the  perils  which 
Theresa,  old  and  feeble,  partly  paralyzed,  and 
visibly  faihng  in  strength,  had  to  endure.  Nor 
can  these  physical  discomforts  have  been  as 
hard    for  her  as  the  mental   trials  which  came 

later. 

Theresa,  accompanied  by  Anna,  a  lay  sister 
and  the  constant  companion  of  her  last  jour- 
neys, and  Teresita,  who  was  soon  to  make  her 
profession,  started  from  Burgos  in  August,  1582. 
They  went  to  Valladolid,  where  disputes  had 
arisen  concerning  Lorenzo's  will.  Theresa  in- 
tended to  stay  in  Valladolid  at  the  convent 
which  she  herself  had  founded ;  but  the  prioress 
had  been  prejudiced  against  her  by  enemies, 
and  expressed  a  wish  that  she  should  not  re- 
main there  even  one  day.  This  same  prioress 
went  so  far  as  to  take  Theresa  to  the  gate  and 
say  to  her,  "  Go,  and  return  hither  no  more." 
These  harsh  words  cut  Mother  Theresa  to  the 
heart,  for  they  were  uttered  by  one  of  her  own 
daughters,  to  whom  she  had  always  gladly 
given  love  and  sympathy. 

The  little  party  next  stopped  at  Medina  del 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   THE  END,       1 93 

Campo ;  and  here  again  they  were  greeted  with 
none  of  the  old  enthusiasm.  Theresa  admon- 
ished the  prioress  for  some  trifle,  and  she  took 
the  reproof  very  ill  and  showed  evidence  of 
insubordination;  she  even  answered  the  saint, 
who  for  so  long  had  been  accustomed  to  rev- 
erence and  obedience,  with  great  insolence. 
"  This  grieved  our  mother  so  sorely,"  writes 
Anna,  **  that  she  ate  nothing,  and  remained 
awake  all  night.'* 

It  was  these  bitter  disappointments,  and  the 
apparent  failure  of  her  work  towards  the  last 
of  her  life,  which  proved  to  be  more  than 
Theresa  could  bear.  From  this  time  forward 
her  strength  began  to  fail,  and  all  knew  that 
the  end  was  near. 

The  painful  visits  in  Valladolid  and  Medina 
discouraged  Theresa  so  much  that  she  felt  anx- 
ious to  return  to  Avila  at  once ;  but  the  Duchess 
of  Alva  sent  for  her  to  come  to  her.  "  Thither, 
therefore,  she  was  carried  in  a  litter,  suffering 
great  pains  all  the  way.'*  They  arrived  at  Me- 
dina on  the  15th  of  September,  but  their  recep- 
tian  was  so  cold  that  they  left  the  place  without 


194         SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVILA. 

taking  food,  meaning  to  eat  on  the  way.  But 
the  villages  through  which  they  passed  were  so 
poor  that  they  could  buy  nothing  but  a  few  dry 
figs.  Theresa  was  in  a  burning  fever,  and  faint 
from  want  of  food.  "What  have  you,  my 
daughter?  I  pray  you  give  me  something,  for 
I  am  exhausted,"  she  said.  Her  devoted  nurse 
gave  four  reals  to  a  peasant,  asking  her  to  buy 
two  eggs ;  but  the  money  was  brought  back  to 
her,  for  no  eggs  could  be  found.  The  next  day, 
in  going  to  another  town,  they  fared  a  little 
better;  but  their  dinner  consisting  of  boiled 
herbs  and  onions  was  not  nourishment  fit  for  an 
invalid's  diet.  That  same  night,  on  the  Vigil  of 
Saint  Matthew,  Theresa  was  brought  to  Alva ; 
her  sufferings  were  almost  over,  her  work  on 
earth  was  nearly  done;  she  now  only  waited 
for  the  "  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant ; 
enter  into  the  joy  of  the  Lord." 


\ 


THE  END. 


195 


CHAPTER   XVI. 


THE   END. 


Among  the  great  Mystics  of  the  world  The- 
resa, perhaps,  does  not  take  the  highest  place ; 
her  Mysticism  is  distinctly  theurgic  in  char- 
acter, and  in  some  of  her  visionary  extrava- 
gances she  lays  herself  open  to  the  accusation 
of  being  called  hysterical,  if  not  insane.  But 
among  the  famous  women  of  the  world  she 
surely  has  a  right  to  stand.  Neither  the  blas- 
phemous pen  of  Voltaire  nor  the  keen,  critical 
eye  of  Renan  has  been  able  to  condemn  the 
life  of  this  saint,  even  if  contempt  is  expressed 
for  her  reputed  miracles.  Years  of  unselfish 
devotion  proved  the  entire  sincerity  of  her 
love  for  God.  '*  I  could  love  thee,  O  God," 
she  wrote,  "  all  the  same  if  there  were  no 
heaven,  and  if  there  were  no  hell  I  would  fear 
thee  no  less ;  "  her  religious  fervor  was  intense, 
and  free  from  any  taint  of  self-seeking. 


i 


196         SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVILA. 

Of  all  the  saints  in  the  Roman  calendar,  Saint 
Theresa  has  the  most  admirers  among  modern 
writers.      A  century  after  her  death  the  writ- 
ings of  this  Spanish  woman  converted  the  poet 
Richard  Crashaw  to  the  Roman  faith;   and  the 
romantic    story    of    her    life    has    drawn   from 
George  Eliot  the  exquisite  prelude  to  Middle- 
march.     In  that  remarkable  philosophical  novel 
written  by  Mr.  Shorthouse,  we  find  the  Jesuit 
Father  Clare  putting  ''The  Flaming  Heart,  or 
the  Life  of  Saint  Theresa,"  into  the  hands  of  his 
metaphysical  pupil  when  the  dreamy  boy  was 
first  becoming  conscious  of  his  own  soul. 

In  these  modern  days  we  are  apt  to  think  of 
a  saint  as  a  creature  removed  from  the  com- 
mon experiences  of  life.     When  we   speak  the 
word,  we  have   a  vision  of  a  woman    clad   m 
sombre  raiment,  who  with  streaming  eyes   and 
emaciated  countenance    spends    her  days  and 
nights  in  kneeling  before  a  crucifix,  repeatmg 
Zcs,     From  such  a  life  certainly  no  one  in  this 
busy   century   could    derive    much    help.     But 
what  has  this  portrait  to  do  with  our  energetic 
heroine,  who  with  sublime  faith  said,  ''  Theresa 


THE  END. 


197 


and    four    ducats   can   do    nothing;    but   God, 
Theresa,  and  four  ducats  can  do  anything"? 

In  Theresa's  character  we  find  combined  the 
elements  which  went  to  make  up  both  the  prac- 
tical Martha  and  the  loving  Mary  of  the  Gospel 
story ;  for  she  had  what  the  French  would  call 
**  deux  genies,  quand  il  n'en  fait  qu'un  seul  h. 
un  homme  pour  etre  immortel."  An  amusing 
story  is  told  which  admirably  illustrates  these 
two  sides  of  her  nature.  One  morning  she  is 
said  to  have  been  busy  in  the  kitchen,  frying 
fish  for  the  convent  dinner.  Suddenly  she  was 
overcome  by  what  she  calls  an  ecstasy,  —  what 
we  might  call  a  mighty  tide  of  religious  feeling; 
she  describes  this  feeling  as  being  so  powerful 
that  it  made  her  body  tremble  from  head  to 
foot.  The  crisis  passed,  —  it  only  lasted  a  mo- 
ment, —  and  Theresa  turned  to  look  after  her 
practical  occupation.  She  found,  to  her  amaze- 
ment, that  she  had  not  once  let  go  the  handle 
of  her  frying-pan,  and  had  been  wise  enough 
to  save  her  fish.  It  was  thus  throughout  all 
Theresa's  experiences ;  she  was  wonderfully 
successful  in  looking  after  the  *'  near  ends  "  of 


198         SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA. 

religion,   no   matter   how   far   away   her    spirit 

might  soar. 

In   studying   this    sixteenth-century   woman, 
we  find  love  to  have  been  the  great  source  of 
her  power  over  her  contemporaries;    she  had 
a  perfect  genius  for  loving  all  who  came  in  con- 
tact with  her;    and  there  were  few  who  could 
resist  the  natural  outpouring  of  her  impulsive, 
affectionate    nature.      In    her    own    passionate 
yearning  to   be   loved,  we    see  Theresa  touch 
hands  with  George  Eliot,  Margaret  Fuller,  and 
all  the  great-hearted  women  of  the  world ;  for 
neither    saints    nor    sages    have    lived   without 
human   sympathy.      In  her  final   self-conquest 
and   the   unselfish   devotion   of  her  life   to   all 
whom  she  could  help  and  comfort  we  recognize 
the    Infinite    Love    upholding   her   nature   and 
•    flooding  it  with  rich  spiritual  force. 

All  through  Theresa's  life.  Faith,  Hope,  and 
Charity  were  her  watchwords ;  it  was  the  cour- 
age which  came  from  her  faith  that  led  her  to 
overcome  what  seemed  to  others  insurmount- 
able obstacles,  and,  already  old  and  worn  by 
disease,  to  found  seventeen  convents  for  women 


THE  END. 


199 


and  fifteen  for  men,  in  an  age  when  the  position 
of  women  was  little  better  than  that  of  slaves. 
The  faith  which  gave  her  this  strength  was  the 
same  faith  that  led  Moses  out  of  and  Gordon 
into  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  which  now  and  al- 
ways subdues  kingdoms,  obtains  promises,  and 
stops  the  mouths  of  lions.  Faith  in  the  end 
for  which  she  worked,  and  a  mighty  Hope  that 
God  was  with  her,  helping  her  to  accomplish 
her  end,  —  these,  with  Charity,  were  the  guid- 
ing stars  of  Theresa's  earthly  pilgrimage. 

It  is  easy  to  smile  with  superior  wisdom  to- 
day, as  we  see  how  little  that  is  tangible  this  great 
Spanish  woman  really  accomplished.  There  is 
a  possibility  that  her  local  reformation  really 
turned  backwards  the  wave  of  the  great  Protes- 
tant reformation  which  was  spreading  over  Eu- 
rope, and  that  thus  according  to  our  finite  views 
she  even  stemmed  the  tide  of  progress  for  a 
brief  time.  Our  taste  is  often  shocked  at  her 
alleged  familiar  interviews  with  God  and  Christ, 
and  we  are  amazed  at  her  ignorance  of  science 
and  blind  credulity  in  miracles  which  could  not 
for  a  moment  stand  before  the  criticism  of  the 


200  SAINT  THERESA    OF  A  VILA, 

modern   scientific   mind.      But  when  we   have 
granted  all  these  things,  and   subtracted  from 
her  memoirs  every  deed  for  which  the  Roman 
Church  has  canonized  her,  we  still  have  a  grand 
and  a  famous  woman  left.     Who  can  explain 
the  mighty  power  of  this  woman's  personality? 
Is  it  not  this  power  which  is  the  real  mystery  in 
the  lives  of  the  saints  and  sages  of  all  the  ages? 
"  What  was  strong  and  beautiful  and  true  and 
earnest   in  Theresa  was    in   herself;    what  was 
morbid  and  mistaken  was  the  result  of  the  in- 
fluences  around  her,"  writes  Mrs.  Jameson;   and 
the  beauty,  strength,  and  earnestness  in  her  life 
is  what  we,  in  this  slight  sketch,  have  tried  to 
bring   out.      For   it   is   not   as   a   saint   in   the 
supe'^rstitious   meaning  of  that  word  that  The- 
resa  is  worthy  of  being  remembered ;  it  is  her 
rich  womanly  nature,  her  immense  capacity  for 
sympathy,  and  her  power  of  merging  her  own 
personality  in  the  Infinite,  which  have  made  her 
deserving  of  three  centuries  of  earthly  immortal- 
ity.   These  qualities  take  her  out  of  the  Roman 
calendar  to  place  her  in  the  grander  calendar 
of  universal  history,  and  make  her  a  leader  in 


THE  END. 


20I 


that  great  army  of  Christians  who  are  all  united 
by  having  lived  in  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ. 

It  was  in  September,  1582,  that  Theresa  en- 
tered Alba  de  Tormes.     There  she  remained  ill 
for  two  weeks,  and  there  she  finally  died,     fys 
she    gradually   realized    that   her   strength  was 
failing,  her  one  prayer  was,  **  Lord,  either  to  die 
or  to  suffer:    I  ask  for  myself  nothing  else." 
Once  she  was  heard  whispering,  **  It  comforts 
me  to  hear  the  clock  strike,  for  so,  methinks,  I 
draw  a  little  nearer  to  the  seeing  of  God,  since 
one  hour  more  of  my  life  is  passed ;  "  her  last 
words  were,  **  A  broken  and  contrite  heart,  O 
God,   thou  wilt  not  despise."      She  was  buried 
in  the  Carmelite  Convent,  behind  the  walls  and 
the  grate,  under  a  large  stone;   but  it  was  not 
for  several  years  that  her  body  found  a  final 
resting-place.     Then  relic-hunters  and  religious 
fanatics  had  so  mutilated    her   ''earthly   taber- 
nacle "   that  it  must  have  looked  a  good  deal 
like  an  ancient  tor^so  before   it  was  finally  per- 
mitted to  lie  in  peace. 

Many  grotesque  legends  cluster  around  The- 
resa's last  days,  and  even  follow  her  body  to  the 


202 


SAINT  THERESA    OF  AVI  LA 


tomb.     We  will  not  give  them  here ;   for  they 
mar  the   sacred   simplicity   of  her   death.      A 
poetical  fancy  concerning  ''  Butterflies  "  (in  the 
Spanish,    Mariposc),  —  2.   pet   name  by   which 
Theresa  designated  her  own  sisters,  —  endured 
still  longer.     It  was  related  by  one  of  the  wit- 
nesses for  her  canonization,  and  now  reads  that 
many  years  after  her  burial,  several  sisters  in 
Seville  were  speaking  about  her  wonderful  life, 
when  suddenly   a   mantle   which   Theresa   had 
worn  became  filled  with  white  butterflies.     An- 
other witness  said   that  before   the   transferral 
of  her  body  from  Alba  de  Tormes  to  Avila  in 
1585,  a  white  butterfly  was  seen  to  come  out  of 

her  grave. 

Between   ten    and    eleven    o'clock   on   every 
evening    all    the    Reformed    Carmelites  —  and 
there  are  still  convents  founded  by  them  scat- 
tered throughout  the   entire  Christian  world  — 
lift  up  their  hearts  in  prayer.    They  do  not  pray 
for  themselves ;  they  have  a  maxim  that  a  Car- 
melite who  is  only  occupied  with  saving  his  own 
soul  is  unworthy  of  his  vocation ;  but  their  de- 
vout and  daily  evening  prayers  are  offered  for 


THE  END, 


203 


the  spiritual  welfare  of  all  God's  children,  scat- 
tered over  the  great  wide  world.  When  their 
evening  petition  has  been  offered,  the  poor  lonely 
brothers  and  sisters  retire  to  their  barren  cells, 
content  to  wait  patiently  for  the  coming  of 
God's  kingdom  on  earth.  In  their  aspiration 
after  a  state  of  ideal  perfection  they  find  their 
sole  source  of  human  joy.  This  beautiful  cus- 
tom, which  has  lasted  for  centuries,  began  in 
Saint  Theresa's  day;  it  was  one  of  the  many 
new  regulations  laid  down  for  her  children  by 
this  fervent,  faithful  woman  whose  early  life 
was  such  a  long  succession  of  failures,  but  who 
eventually  won  that  greatest  of  all  victories, — 
the  victory  over  herself. 

"  Souls  are  not  Spaniards  too  ;  one  friendly  flood 
Of  baptism  blends  them  all  into  one  blood. 
Christ's  faith  makes  but  one  body  of  all  souls, 
And  love  's  that  body's  soul  no  law  controls. 
What  soul  soe'er  in  any  language  can 
Speak  Heaven  like  hers  is  my  soul's  countryman."  ^ 

1  From  "  A  Hymn  to  the  Name  and  Honor  of  the  Admira- 
ble Sainte  Teresa."     1646.    By  Richard  Crashaw. 


THE   END. 


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for  there  are  few  biographical  series  more  attractive,  more  modest,  and  more  protit- 
able  than  these  "  Famous  Women."     If  one  wanted  to  send  a  birthday  or  Christ- 
mas gift  to  a  woman  one  honors,  —whether  she  is  twenty  or  sixty  years  old  need 
not  mattcF,  —  it  would  not  be  easy  to  select  a  better  set  than  these  volumes,     lo 
be  sure,  Americans  do  not  figure  prominently  in  the  series  a  certain  preference 
beinc  eiven  to  Englishwomen  and  Frenchwomen;  but  that  does  not  diminish  the 
intrinsic  merit  of  each  volume.     One  likes  to  add,  also,  that  nearly  the  whole  set 
has  been  written  from  a  purely  historical  or  matter-of-fact  point  of  view,  there  being 
very  little  in  the  way  of  special  pleadins;  or  one-sidedness.    1  his  applies  especially 
to  the  mother  of  the  Wesleys.     Mankind  has  treated  the  whole  Wesley  family  as 
if  it  was  the  special,  not  to  say  exclusive,  property  of  the  Methodists.     But  there 
is  no  fee-simple  in  good  men  or  women,  and  all  mankind  may  well  lay  a  certain 
claim  to  all  those  who  have  in  any  wav  excelled  or  rendered  important  service  to 
mankind  at  large.     Eliza  Clarke^s  life  of  Susanna  Wesley  tells  us  truly.that  she 
was  "  a  lady  of  ancient  lineage,  a  woman  of  intellect,  a  keen  politician,     and 
profoundly  religious,  as  well  as  a  shrewd  observer  of  men,  things,  and  society  at 
large.  .  .  .  Her  life  is  that  of  a  gifted,  high-minded,  and  prudent  woman.     It  is 
told  in  a  straightforward  manner,  and  it  should  be  read  far  beyond  the  ines  ot  the 
Methodist  denomination.     There  must  have  been  many  women  m  Ctlomal  New 
England  who  resembled  Susanna  Wesley ;  for  she  was  a  typical  character,  both 
ia  woridly  matters  and  in  her  spiritual  life.  —  The  Beaton. 

Mrs  Wesley  was  the  mother  of  nineteen  childrgi,  among  whom  were  John, 
the  founder,'ana  Chkries,  tlie  sxveet  singer,  oi  Meil^dism.  Her  husband  was  a 
tx)or  country  rector,  who  eked  ont  by  writing  verses  the  slender  stipend  his  cleri- 
cal office  brought  him.  Mrs.  Wesley  was  a  woman  of  gentle  birth,  intense  reli- 
gious convictions,  strong  character,  and  singular  devotion  to  her  children.  1  his 
biography  is  well  written,  and  is  eminently  readable,  as  well  as  historically  valuable. 
—  Cambridge  Tribune. 

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ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  Boston. 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 


JFamous  SEomcn  Scries, 


MADAME    ROLAND. 

By  MATHILDE    BLIND, 

AUTHOR    OF    ♦•GEORGE    ELIOT'S    LIFE." 
One  volume.     i6mo.    Cloth.    Price,  $i.oo. 


*'Of  all  the  interesting  biographies  published  in  the  Famous  Women  Series, 
Mathilde  Blind's  life  of  Mme.  Roland  is  by  far  the  most  fascinating.  ...  But 
no  one  can  read  Mme.  Roland's  thrilling  story,  and  no  one  can  study  the  character 
of  this  noble,  heroic  woman  without  feeling  certain  that  it  is  good  for  the  world  to 
have  every  incident  of  her  life  brought  again  before  the  public  eye.  Among  the 
famous  women  who  have  been  enjoying  a  new  birth  through  this  set  of  short 
biographies,  no  single  one  has  been  worthy  of  the  adjective  j^eat  until  we  come 

to  Mme.  Roland.  ...  j    -a  i 

"We  see  a  brilliant  intellectual  women  in  Mme.  Roland;  we  see  a  dutiful 
daughter  and  devoted  wife  ;  we  see  a  woman  going  forth  bravely  to  place  her  neck 
under  the  guillotine.  -  a  woman  who  had  been  known  as  the  '  Soul  of  the  Giron- 
dins ; '  and  we  see  a  woman  struggling  with  and  not  being  overcome  by  an  intense 
and  passionate  love.  Has  history  a  more  heroic  picture  to  present  us  with?  Is 
there  any  woman  more  deserving  of  the  adjective  '  great'  ? 

•♦  Mathilde  Blind  has  had  rich  materials  from  which  to  draw  for  Mme.  Roland  s 
biography.  She  writes  graphically,  and  describes  some  of  the  terrible  scenes 
in  the  French  Revolution  with  great  picturesqueness.  The  writer's  sympathy 
with  Mme.  Roland  and  her  enthusiasm  is  very  contagious ;  and  we  follow  her 
record  almost  breathlessly,  and  with  intense  feeling  turn  over  the  last  few  pages 
of  this  litUe  volume.  No  one  can  doubt  that  this  life  was  worth  the  writing, 
and  even  earnest  students  of  the  French  Revolution  will  be  gkd  to  refresh  their 
memories  of  Lamartine's  '  History  of  the  Girondins,'  and  again  have  brought 
Vividly  before  them  the  terrible  tragedy  of  Mme.  Roland's  life  and  death." - 
Boston  Evening  Transcript.  ,,         .^  j 

•'  The  thrilling  story  of  Madame  Roland's  genius,  nobility,  self- sacrifice,  and 
death  loses  nothing  in  its  retelling  here.  The  material  has  been  collected  and 
arranged  in  an  unbroken  and  skilfully  narrated  sketch,  each  picturesque  or  exciting 
incident  being  brought  out  into  a  strong  light.  The  book  is  one  of  the  best  m  an 
exwllent  series."  — C/*rM//Vi«  Union. 

♦ 


For  sale  by  all  booksellers.     Mailed,  post-paid,  on  receipt 
of  price  by  the  publishers, 

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Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications, 


f  aniDUiS  UDomen  ^ttxt^. 

MARGARET  OF  ANGOULEME, 

QUEEN    OF   NAVARRE. 
By  a.   MARY   F.   ROBINSON. 

One  Volume.     16mo.     Cloth.     Price,  $1.00. 


The  latest  addition  to  the  excellent  "  Famous  Women  Series  is  a  sketch  of  the 
Queen  of  Navarre,  one  of  the  most  deservedly  famous  women  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury In  political  influence  she  is  fitly  compared  to  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England 
and  Margaret  of  Austria;  and  as  to  her  services  to  religion,  she  has  been  referred 
to  as  "  the  divinity  of  the  great  religious  movement  of  her  time,  and  the  upholder  of 
the  mere  natural  rights  of  humanity  in  an  age  that  only  respected  opinions.  The 
story  of  this  remarkable  woman  is  here  told  briefly,  and  with  a  discrimination  that 
does  credit  to  the  biographer.  —  Times-Star,  Cincinttati. 

Margaret  of  Angouieme  furnishes  a  noble  subject,  which  has  been  ably  treated. 
Miss  Robinson's  sketch  proves  thorough  research  and  a  clear  conception  of  her 
work,  possessing  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  characters  and  events  connected  with 
that  period.  She  is  in  sympathy  with  every  movement,  and  explicit  in  detail,  being 
strictly  confined  to  facts  which  may  be  authentically  received.  .  .  .  This  excellent 
biography  is  a  source  of  enjoyment  from  the  first  page  to  the  last,  and  should  be 
read  by  every  student  and  lover  of  history.  It  abounds  m  instructive  and  enjoy- 
able reading,  furnishing  a  valuable  addition  to  this  popular  series.  —  UticaPress.^ 

One  of  the  most  readable  volumes  thus  far  in  the  '*  Famous  Women  Series 
has  just  been  published  by  Roberts  Hrothers.  It  is  Mary  F.  Robinsons  Life 
of  Margaret  of  Angouieme,  Queen  of  Navarre."  Judging  from  the  fifty  different 
authorities  that  the  writer  has  consulted,  it  is  evident  that  she  has  taken  great 
pains  to  sympathize  with  the  spint  of  the  era  which  she  descnl^s.  Only  a  warm 
imagination,  stimulated  by  an  intimate  knowledge  of  details,  will  help  an  author 
to  make  his  reader  realize  that  the  past  was  as  present  to  those  who  lived  in  it  as 
the  present  is  to  us.  Miss  Robinson  has  compiled  a  popular  history,  that  has  the 
easy  flow  and  lifelike  picturesqueness  which  it  is  so  often  the  aim  of  the  novelist  to 
display.  Such  books  as  this,  carefully  and  even  artistically  written  as  they  are, 
help  to  fill  up  vacant  nooks  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  read  large  histories  in 
which  personal  biography  can  hold  but  a  small  pace;  while  at  the  same  time  the j 
give  the  non-historical  reader  a  good  deal  of  information  which  is,  or  ought  to 
be,  more  interesting  than  many  a  fiction.  Nor  does  Miss  Robinson  f  timate  the 
influence  of  Margaret  of  Angouieme  wrongly  when  she  traces  the  salvation  of  a 
nation  to  her  mercy  and  magnanimity.  — A^.  }'■  T'^/^^rrtw., 

It  is  reasonable  and  impartial  m  its  views,  and  yet  clear  m  its  judgments.  Ihe 
immense  importance  of  Queen  Margaret's  influence  on  the  beginnings  of  modern 
thoughts  in  JFrance  is  clearly  set  forth,  but  without  exaggeration  or  ""^u^  empha- 
sis. Miss  Robinson  is  especially  happy  m  her  portrayal  of  Margaret  s  complex 
tharacler,  which  under  her  hand  becomes  both  human  and  consistent ,  and  the 
volume,  although  small,  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  history  of  I  ranee  m  the  six- 
teenth century.  —  Boston  Courier. 

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.M' 


1 


Messrs,  Roberts  Brothers'  Pnblieations, 

famous  JlDomcn  ^crics^* 

MRS.    SIDDONS. 

By  NINA   H.   KENNARD. 
One  Volume.     i6mo.     Cloth.     Price,  $i.oo. 

The  latest  contribotion  to  tl^  ^J^-^  S^S^ N  -  h!  t"  ^l^"!^!^ 
Siddons,  carefully  and  appreaatively  comp^^  ^^auy-sided  character  of  the  great 
lives  of  Mrs.  Siddotis  have  failed  to  pre^em^^^^^  fler  dramatic  capacity  Mrs. 
tragic  queen,  representing,  ^er  more  exc  usnreiy  ^^^^^^^  ^^  CampbeU  and 

KennaJd  presents  the  "^^^'".^^^^^/"^i  ^^^^^^^  history  appearing  m  Percy 

Boaden,  as  well  as  the  P^''^^'^"  °Lf.'?.^and 
Fitzcerald's  "  Lives  of  the  ll^fmbles ,     ^^"° '',4„.:cuiarlv  as  shown  m  her  hitherto 

Lre  tender  and  domestic  -^f--[\ll^:''Zy'£^^^^  -'  '>^  ""•'?  ^",^^ 

unpublished  letters.     1  he  story  of  J^^  early  ara  j^     a^d  it  is  with  a  dis- 

Kemble  proves  not  the  least  »"^,«;;f.j;"^,^^"^^^  until  she  gains  the  sum- 

tinct  human  interest  that  her  varying  P\"f  "^^^f^",,; '"  .  ^.tr  greatest  public  triumphs 

rSt  ofTopular  favor  and  -"<^<^,%t •  Ji^l%Sre  are  givfn  of  the  idol  of  br^ 
receives  tender  and  artistic  touches  in  the  view  we  a^b  ^^^^^^  ^^  ^  ^        1 

and  intellectual  London  ^J^'^^ frg,a«   of    he  fS^oUights.  -  CV 
home  supper  on  retiring  from  ^^^ j'^^^  °;e„t  i,,   devoting  comparatively  httle 
We  think  the  author  shows  good  3»dg'"em  ^       ^^^     i^,,,^  special   at- 

space  to  cnticism  of  Mrs.  S»ddons  s  dr.  matic  niein  .  ^^^^.^^ly  interesting 
tLtion  to  her  personal  traits  ^"d  history-     Hers        .^^  ^^^^  „ 

life,  remarkable  no  less  for  Us  PJ'^f/^^/J^Jved  was  heroic  in  its  persistence  and 
struggle  to  gain  the  place  ^f^P.^"'""  hors  wits7and  notables  of  her  day  give 
dignify      Her  relations  with  ^^e  au  hors    ^^ns    »  j    ^^^^^e.    Herself  free 

SiSsL  for  much  entertaining  and  uuere^tm^^^^^  .^  ^  T»^«,^»?"*^'' SJ 

from  humor,  she  was  herself  often  the  ^*^^'^;'?  ,„  ,:„.,,.,s  .  .  .  The  book  abounds 
^rl^gl^niki^ermpn^^^^^^^^^^^  of  society  in  a  very 

Tntere^truan^Uio^Lrp^^^^^^^^^^  /^^'^f  .^^Sv  known  series  is  the  life  of  the 
A  fitting  addition  to  this  so  ^^ll  «"d  s«J']J?'f K^em"ard.     To  most  of  the  pres- 
wonderful  actress,  Sarah  Siddons  by  Mrs  N^^^^^^^  „„jil  ^sj.;  but 

ent  generation  the  K'-^at  woman  is  on.y  a  name,  t  k  ^j,  les,  triumphs  and 
the  present  volume,  with  its  v>vid  account  ot  her  i  ^  ^.^^^.^^^  ^  particular  y 
closing  years,  will  give  to  such  a  pur^ure  t^ia  ^^^^^^^  ^^,  ^^-'^r  o 

pleasant  feature  of  the  book  is  the  way  ni  v^  ^         letters  written  to 

From  Mrs.  Siddons's  correspondence  ^'^^^^^  "^^j^  ;„  ^,nnt.  give  the  most 
fHends,  and  with   no  thoug»^t  of  their  ever  appe        g^_^^,  ^^  as  her  own 

s^ntaneous  expressions  of  feeling  on  tj«  P^^^^iJ^  therefore,  better  data  upon 
account  of  many  events  of  ^l^-:  j;^^_/';7J„"a^  character  , than  anything 

thkh  to  base  an  opmion  ot  her  "^^^^  P^^^'^^j^esting   from  beginning  to  end, 

Tlse  could  possibly  give.  The  .^'.^^  ^Z^;;;;/,  S^'-^^^^"  ^"'  ^?"*'  ^'t^"" 
and  one  rises  from  its  perusal  with  "'«J^;y"'\„d  ^er  true  womanliness,  shown 
becaSse  of  her  great  genius,  her  real  goodness,  and  h^^^^^^     actresses,  amateur  or 

in  the  relation?  of  daughter.  -"^f^J"/ J^l^ekvatn  g   th^  stage,"  should   study 
professional,  with   avowed   !"  ^"V^^j^i^^direction  she  accomplished  more,  prob- 
Ihis  noble  woman's  example;  for  '"  ""=;°;  \         ^nd  at  greater  odds.-iV.  E. 
ably,  than  any  other  one  person  has  ever  aone, 
Journal  of  Education. 

Sold  by  all  booksellers.    MMed.  post-paid,  on  receipt  of 
price,  ty  ''- ^"^'''^''-^^^^.^s    BROTHERS,  Bostoh. 


Messrs,  Roberts  Brothers   Publications. 


f  amoujS  JDomcn  ^tm^. 

MADAME    DE  STAEL. 

By  BELLA  DUFFY. 

One  Volume.     i6mo.     Cloth.     Price,  $i.oo. 


It  is  a  brilliant  subject,  and  handled  in  a  brilliant  as  well  as  an  intelligent 

"Ti;:'bi7g?atrhv'oft;f  remarkable  woman  is  written  in  a  spirit  of  candor  and 
fairness  that  will  at  once  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  those  who  are  seeking 
he  truth  The  author  is  not  so  much  in  love  with  her  subject  as  to  lose  sight  of 
hlr  faults-  nor  is  she  so  blind  to  Madame  de  Stael's  merits  as  to  place  confi- 
dence ?i  the  many  cruel  things  that  have  been  said  of  her  by  her  enemies. 
The  review  o?  Madame  de  Siael's  works,  which  closes  this,  volume  exhibits 
rarl  cri^  cl^  insight?  ^^.d  the  abstract  of  "Corinne"  here  given  wil  be  wel- 
comed brhoS  who  have  never  had  the  patience  to  wade  through  his  long 
but  celebrated  classic,  which  combines  somewhat  incongruously  the  qualities  of  a 
novel  and  an  Italian  guide-book.  In  answering  the  question,  Why  was  not  Ma- 
dame  de  StaSl  a  greater  writer?  her  biographer  admirably  condenses  a  great  deal 
of  TmivticaUomment  into  a  very  brief  space.  Madame  de  Stael  was  undoubtedly 
The  mirceleb^^^^^^^  of  her  time,  and  this  fact  is  never  lost  sight  of  in  this 

carefully  written  record  of  her  life.  —  Saturday  k  vemng  Gazette. 

It  rla^sToneof  the  most  fascinating  and  remarkable  women  of  history  The 
name  of  Madame  de  Stael  is  invested  with  every  charm  that  brilliance  of  intellect, 
?oi!^ance   and  ma^^^^^^  to  fascinate  and  compel  the  admiration  of  men  can 

beTtow  Not ^elutiful  herself,  she  wielded  a  power  which  the  most  beaut.ful 
wome^* envied  he?  and  could  not  rival.  The  story  of  her  life  should  read  like  a 
no°^l   and  it  one  of  the  best  in  this  series  of  interesting  books  published  by 

'^^^^^;:'i^^i2^^  issuing  a  -nes  of  biographies 

hfe  ofMadame  d'e  Stael.  which  Miss  P.ella  Duffy  has  just  writt^.tj  for  it.  is  as  good 
a.  the  best  of  its  predecessors;  of  each  of  which,  according  o  our  reasoning,  ine 
Srie  thing  might  appropriately  be  said.  Miss  DuflFy  has  httle  to  tell  of  her  sub- 
ScTthathaT  not  already  bee  J  told  in  longer  biographies  it  is  true  ;  but  from  a 
ireat  variety  of  sources  she  has  extracted  enough  material  to  make  an  excellent 
study  of  the  great  Frenchwoman  in  a  small  space,  which  has  never  been  done 
before  .ucSsffully,  so  far  as  we  know.  Considering  the  size  of  the  book,  one 
marvL  af  rhrcompTeteness  of  the  picture  the  author  presents,  not  only  of  Ma- 
marvels  at  the  comp'eie.  e^^  fiends,  and  of  the  stirring  times  in  which  she 

livTd  and  which  s^deeXcdo        her  whole  life.     Miss  DuflTy.  though  disposed 

o  look"at  her  faults  r'a^L'r  leniently,  is  by  no  means  ^-^f  ^  "^P/,^^:"! ^.^^.l^ mS  ^ 
Anf'^  her  all  the  iustice  that  the  facts  m  the  case  warrant,  which  is  perhaps  more 
?h^n%'ead:rsof  tiiTlonger  biographies  before  -[e-d  ,^°  f  j^^^-^l^^^^ 
the  volume  is  a  chapter  devoted  to  the  writings  °f  ^J^^f^^^jf^^^  f^^^ 
admirable  a  bit  of  literary  criticism  that  we  advise  the  purchase  ot  tne  dook  it  oniy 
for  its  sake.  —  The  Capital,  IVashtngton. 


Sold  by  all  booksellers.    Mailed,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of 
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Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers^  Publications, 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications, 


FAMOUS  WOMEN    SERIES. 


JFamous  SEomtn  %tx\i%. 


ADELAIDE     RISTORI. 

STUDIES   AND   MEMOIR.     AN    AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 
One  vol.    16mo.    Cloth.    Price,  $1.00. 

Those  who  have  felt  an  interest  in  the  Famous  Women  Series  will  no 
doubt  welcome  this  latest  publication  with  enthusiasm.  It  is  an  autobiography 
by  Adelaide  Ristori.  With  a  vivacity  and  a  simplicity  which  at  once  captivate 
the  reader,  this  famous  tragedienne  tells  the  story  of  her  brilliant  and  checkered 
career.  With  no  attempt  to  hide  under  a  cloak  of  false  modesty  her  gratification 
at  her  successes,  she  tells  of  her  triumphs  as  they  were,  without  embellishment 
or  detraction.  She  regarded  them  as  national  rather  than  personal  compliments, 
and  as  such  she  gloried  in  them. 

The  last  half  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  analytical  essays  on  the  chief  char- 
MCters  whom  Ristori  personated.  These  are  Mary  Stuart,  Myrrha,  Medea, 
Fhxdra,  Lady  Macbeth,  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  Ristori  used  every  means  to  gain 
a  thorough  understanding  of  the  traits  and  dispositions  of  these  women;  she 
studied  their  history,  she  weighed  their  qualities,  and,  above  all,  she  identified 
herself  with  them  by  a  broad  and  intelligent  sympathy  which  could  comprehend 
the  monstrous  capabilities  of  Lady  Macbeth  as  well  as  the  oueenly  grace  and 
dignity  of  Mary  Stuart.  With  the  same  conscientious  care  sne  endeavored  to 
interpret  her  conception  of  them  to  the  public.  Whatever  she  accomplished 
was  done  by  hard  work  and  close  application.  She  held  herself  to  the  drudgery 
of  studying  the  slightest  details  in  gesture  and  expression.  Her  studious  and 
painstaking  life  is  a  lesson  to  those  who  think  that  a  person  can  blossom  into 
greatness  by  the  sheer  force  of  his  genius,  unaccompanied  by  exhaustive  toil  and 
anxious  vigilance.  —  Boston    Tratiscript. 

No  one  can  read  these  details  of  the  life  of  this  great  queen  of  tragedy,  written 
by  herself,  without  absorbing  interest.  The  style  is  easy  and  flowing,  and  she 
details  so  many  incidents,  some  of  them  tragic  or  pathetic  and  others  laughable, 
all  occurring  in  her  travels  to  the  many  places  or  in  the  cities  where  she  appeared 
that  the  reader  finds  the  work  as  entertaining  as  a  novel.  Her  conception  of  the 
parts  in  which  she  distinguished  herself  is  given  in  full.  —  Toledo  Blade.  _ 

This  is  a  charming  autobiography,  written  with  great  candor  and  simplicity, 
and  forms  a  unique  addition  to  a   series  of  works  that  has  won  deserved  praise. 

—  Open  Court.  . 

■  *  a  novelty  in  the  Famous  Women  Series,  and  an  agree- 
the  reader  face  to  face  with  one  of  the  great  tragic 
av.i.c=»c^  u.  w.^  t^.^o^ww  generation,  Adelaide  Ristori.  Half  of  the  book  is 
devoted  to  the  writer's  Memoirs,  in  which  she  tells,  modestly  and  with  sufficient 
fulness,  the  story  of  her  career  on  the  stap;e  down  to  the  present  time.  The 
narrative  contains  much  that  is  of  great  interest,  descriptions  of  famous  first 
nights  and  of  other  incidents  in  the  life  of  the  actress,  her  relations  with  Rachel 
in  her  first  visit  to  Paris  supplying  the  materials  for  an  entertaininp  chapter. 
Valuable  indeed,  also,  are  the  Studies  which  form  the  latter  halt  of  the  book,  and 
in  which  Madame  Ristori  analyzes  the  characters  of  the  principal  personages 
whom  she  has  represented  on  the  stage,  —  Mary  Stuart,  Myrrha,  Medea,  Ph.Tdra, 
Lady  Macbeth,  and  Queen  Elizabeth.  Her  reasons  for  her  conceptions  of  these 
great  characters  throw  much  light  upon  her  acting,  and  will  be  read  with  much 
interest.  —  Book  Buyer. 

Sold  by  all  booksellers.   Mailed,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the 
^^  "  ^^^'  ROBERTS   BROTHERS    Boston. 


An  autobiography  is 
able  one,  since  it  brings 
actresses  of  the  present 


RACHEL. 

By  Mrs.  NINA  H.  KENNAED. 
OneVolnme.    16mo.    Cloth.   Price,  $1.00. 


*^  Rachel^  by  Nina  H.  Kennard,  is  an  interesting  sketch  of  the  famous 
woman  whose  passion  and  genius  won  for  her  an  almost  unrivalled  fame  as 
an  actress.  The  story  of  Rachel's  career  is  of  the  most  brilliant  success  in 
art  and  of  the  most  pathetic  failure  in  character.  Her  faults,  many  and 
grievous,  are  overlooked  in  this  volume,  and  the  better  aspects  of  her  nature 
and  history  are  recorded."  —  Hartford  Courant. 

"  The  book  is  well  planned,  has  been  carefully  constructed,  and  is 
pleasantly  written."  —  The  Critic. 

"  The  life  of  MUe.  ^lisa  Rachel  Felix  has  never  been  adequately  told, 
and  the  appearance  of  her  biography  in  the  '  Famous  Women  Series '  oi 
Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers  will  be  welcomed.  .  .  .  Yet  we  must  be  glad  the 
book  is  written,  and  welcome  it  to  a  place  among  the  minor  biographies ; 
and  because  there  is  nothing  else  so  good,  the  volume  is  indispensable  to 
library  and  studv."  —  Boston  Evening  Traveller. 

*'  Another  life  of  the  great  actress  Rachel  has  been  written.  It  forms 
part  of  the  *  Famous  Women  Series,'  which  that  firm  is  now  bringiiig  out, 
and  which  already  includes  eleven  volumes.  Mrs.  Kennard  deals  with  her 
subject  much  more  amiably  than  one  or  two  of  the  other  biographers  have 
done.  She  has  none  of  those  vindictive  feelings  which  are  so  obvious  in 
Madame  B.'s  narrative  of  the  great  tragedienne.  On  the  contrary,  she 
wants  to  be  fair,  and  she  probably  is  as  fair  as  the  materials  which  came  into 
her  possession  enabled  her  to  be.  The  endeavor  has  been  made  to  show  us 
Rachel  as  she  really  was,  by  relying  to  a  great  extent  upon  her  letters.  .  .  . 
A  good  many  stories  that  we  are  familiar  with  are  repeated,  and  some  are 
contradicted.  From  first  to  last,  however,  the  sympathy  of  the  author  is 
ardent,  whether  she  recounts  the  misery  of  Rachel's  childhood,  or  the  splen- 
did altitude  to  which  she  climbed  when  her  name  echoed  through  the  world 
and  the  great  ones  of  the  earth  vied  in  doing  her  homage.  On  this  account 
Mrs.  Kennard's  book  is  a  welcome  addition  to  the  pre-existing  biographies 
of  one  of  the  greatest  actresses  the  world  ever  saw."  — iV.  F.  Evening 

Telegram. 

♦ 

Sold  everywhere.     Mailed  postpaid,  by  the  Publishers, 

ROBERTS   BROTHERS,  Boston 


Messrs.  Roberts  Brothers'  Publications. 


JFamous  aEomen  Series* 

HARRIET  "mARTINEAU. 

By  Mrs.  F.  FENWICK  MILLER. 

i6mo.    Cloth.    Price  $i.oo. 


..  The  almost  uniform  excellence  of  t^e^  F^- ^Y^-Je'  S  Idd^on"^, 
tained  in  Mrs.  Fenw,ck  M.Uer's  >^«  ^^^^^^^.^^^  di/p^sed  to  rank  it  as  the  best  of 
this  little  library  of  biography      Indeed,  ^^  are  o,  i  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^ 

the  lot.  The  subject  is  an  e"^"^f '"J"^  P^^'i/^^^man,  in  a  century  that  has  not 
admirably.  Miss  Martineau  ^^^^^^V  Her  natue  genius,  and  her  perseverance  in 
been  deficient  in  notable  <=h^^,^^  "?„„  "^VX^^^^^^^  with  which  she  rose 

developing  it;  her  tnals  and  afflictions,  and  tneaeie       .     ^  ,       ^^  ^^e  important 

superior  to  them  ;  her  f ^^f  •^^/'^^^fA'j^rand  eduSionkl  literature  of  her  day. 
pl^e  which  her  writings  hold  m  the  ixjht.wl  ana  e^^^  ^,^1^ 

L  all  combine  to  make  the  story  of  he  J  ^^  °"^f^  M  arnneau  was  the  greatest  of 
the  exception,  possibly,  of  ^^^^^e   F.liot    Harn^^^^  a  ^^  ^^^^  ^.^  ^^^^  ^^^^ 

Englishwomen.  ,  She  was  a  poet  and  a  novelist,  du  achievements  m 

good  her  title  to  distinction.     Much  '"^'^^  "^j^^^^omen      She  was  eminent  as  a 

Woods  m  Saturday  Mirror. 

^The  present  volume  has  already  shared  the  fate  o/.^-^-^-^y^^Vpr^^^^^^^^ 
raphies  o?  the  distinguished  dead,  and  h^  been  vs J^  ad-rtj^c^  ^J        P  ^^^  ^^ 
tradiction  of  more  or  less  important  points  in  tne^^^^^^^  y.  ^^^.^  j^^^  ^^^^  ^ 
dead  genius.     One  of  Mrs.  Miller  s  ^^^'ef  concerns  in  w        g    ^^^  appearance  of 
have  been  to  redeem  the  character  o^i^H  arret  ^^^^  S^^^^^^'^^^  '^L 
hardness  and  "namiability   ^'«^^^^^,^"   "A  •,„  this  volume  in  showing  us  an  alto- 
reader Mrs  Miller,  ^o/^ever  succeeds^n    ms  v           j^^^^^j     bright-naturcd, 

gether  different  side  to  ^er  character  _-  a  home  ^ov.n^,  ^       ^^^^j,  ^^  ^^e  clear 

ki";'rhr?h»^^^^  -^^^^  -^°™  ^^  ^'"'^ 

knew  "  —  Th*  Index.  Fl'oL 

.*  Already  ten  volumes  in  this  libj^'5;^.^V."r^'4t  FuU^r" 
Emily  Bronte,  George  Sand,  ^Y^lhanv    M  ^Twollstonecraft,  and  the  presen 
Elizabeth  Fry,  The  Countess   of  Albany    Mary  ^^  ^,^„  ,     m.ss  M.  will 

volume.     Surely  a  galaxy  of  wit  and  'wealth  ot  no  m  ^^^^  ^^  ^\,xo^^, 

rank  with  any  of  them  in  woman  iness  or  gifts  or  g^^^^^^ 

in  public  or  private.     She  was  noble  ^nd  true   and  neri  ^^^^  ^^., ^^^      g,^^ 

cesl    True:shewasli.terary,butshe  wasahome    over  a   ^^^^^^.       ^er  success, 
never  lost  the  higher  aims  and  ends  of  l^e   "«  J^^  ^^^^      ^j  ^^.^ay.    'Siore  of  such 
This  whole  senes  ought  to  be  «ad  by  the  young  i       ^ 
biography  would  prove  highly  beneficial.    - /^^.y  i'^'Sr 

Our  publications  are  for  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  will  be 
mailed,  post-paid,  on  receipt  of  price. 

ROBERTS  BROTHERS,  Boston. 


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